Thursday, February 10, 2011

Green Light Jerky - The Classic (Improved)

green light jerkyGreen Light Jerky was one of the first brands of jerky I reviewed, nearly three years ago. Since then, the company claims to have improved its jerky and resubmitted four of their flavors for review. It didn't specify exactly how it was improved.

However back in 2009 they claimed to have made improvements by extending the marinade to a full 24 hours.

Green Light Jerky is a brand of Green Light Jerky Company of Redwood City, CA. It's a unique brand in that it focuses on unusual flavors such as Garlic Parmesan, Jamaican Jerky, and Prime Rib Dinner, all of which I've reviewed earlier.

Ingredients

Beef, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, honey, water, onions, spices, garlic.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a light soy sauce flavor with a moderate saltiness. There's just a faint bit of seasoning noticeable.

The chewing flavor starts with a more defined soy sauce flavor. A subtle sweetness is there, along with a light touch of onion. There's just a light natural meat flavor.

In my original review I said the following...

The Classic flavor has a mild soy sauce flavor and smell, not very salty, with a very subtle spicy tingle in the back of your throat. That spiciness comes from the guajillo and pasilla chile spices that they sprinkle on.

That still seems to be the case with this improved version, except I don't pick up any of the subtle spiciness. It's still largely a mild soy sauce flavor with just a faint touch of sweet, and a very light onion flavor.

I also said in the original review that it had a very evident beef flavor with a bit of fatty flavor too. But I don't see it that way now. This improved version has only a light natural meat flavor.

The saltiness in this feels to be at a light to medium level.

Overall, what you're going to notice in this is a soy sauce flavor with a light bit of onion and a even lighter touch of sweet. You'll get a light natural meat flavor as well.

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, sliced thin into strips of about five inches in length.

This is a dry jerky with a dry surface feel. They have a fair amount of flexibility but will crack open about half-way through. Biting off chunks seems somewhat easy, maybe just a light bit of effort needed. Chewing seems a little chewy, but overall still in the easy range.

The chewing starts out feels somewhat stiff, with a fair amount of initial chewing resistance. A little bit of chewing is necessary before it starts to break down, and then it chews down to a soft mass pretty easily. At that point, it takes a fibrous, but crumbly texture.

Most of these pieces have a tiny bits of fat in them, but otherwise no tendon or gristle. I don't really pick up any stringiness either, and found mostly nothing unchewable.

In terms of clean eating, my fingers don't pick up any residue, and find only a light dusting of fragments falling off on to my lap.

green light beef jerky

green light jerky
Snack Value

Green Light Jerky sells this Classic variety from their website at a price of $5.00 for a 2oz package. If you bought eight packages, shipping to Southern California costs $12.45, for a total of $52.45. That works to $3.28 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $3.28 per ounce price, it's a weak value. I do get an average amount of snackability for a satisfying flavor, somewhat easy eating, though an average chewing texture. That price, however, is quite expensive compared to major jerky brands found in grocery stores, and yet offers a little bit better snackability overall.

Rating

green light jerkyI'm giving this an average rating.

This improved version of Green Light Jerky's Classic variety offers up a satisfying flavor consisting of soy sauce with a light bit of onion seasoning, a faint touch of sweet, and light natural meat flavor.

Compared to the previous recipe, this seems to have less natural meat flavor than before, and I'm not able to pick up the light spiciness that I was able to pick up before. Albeit since that time, I've increased my passion for spicy foods, so perhaps my taste buds are more numb.

But also since then, I've reviewed hundreds of more brands and have built up a repertoire of jerky flavors and styles. This one doesn't really seem above average as I had stated in my original review. Though, the recipe/process has also changed too.

My recommended beer pairing for this, go with a lighter bodied brown ale, the roasted malt should do well with the soy sauce and light natural meat flavor. Try the Newcastle Brown Ale or Big Sky Brewing's Moose Drool.

Rating: Average

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