Friday, April 29, 2011

Green Light Jerky - The Ultimate Teriyaki

green light beef jerkyNext in the series on Green Light Jerky is this variety dubbed, "The Ultimate Teriyaki". See my previous reviews of their Classic, Garlic Parmesan, and Jamaican Jerk varieties.

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 in a stylish design and concept. They claim to add no preservatives, no MSG, no thickening agents, and no food colorings, going on to say they use such name-brand ingredients as The Perfect Puree of Napa Valley, George Chiala Farms in Morgan Hill, and Grandma's Molasses. Their products are sold through specialty stores in northern California, and from their website.

Ingredients

Beef, soy sauce, sugar, expeller pressed soy oil, fresh garlic, sesame seeds, dried onion, fresh ginger, garlic granules, expeller pressed sesame oil, onion powder, ginger powder, water.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a soy sauce flavor, then followed by a light bit of sweet, and perhaps a faint smokiness. There's also a touch of saltiness noticeable.

The chewing flavor starts with a bit more definition from the soy sauce and a just little bit more sweet. There's a light bit of onion flavor noticeable, and I want to say a bit of the sesame oil noticeable too. The saltiness picks up a bit.

For being dubbed "The Ultimate Teriyaki", it certainly does have a teriyaki flavor, but not really the thick sweet variety I'm more accustomed to. It's much more light on the sweetness. But it tends to feel more heavier on the soy sauce, and a little more saltier than the teriyaki sauces I've had at many Japanese restaurants. I do pick up some flavor overtones that take this teriyaki beyond the sweetened soy sauces that many other teriyaki jerky brands tend to settle with, mostly with an onion flavor and touches of sesame seed oil.

And that teriyaki flavor seems to be the dominant flavor of this jerky. There actually isn't much of any other flavors in this, save for a very light, almost faint, natural meat flavor.

The saltiness in this seems mostly light, though some of you might see it as moderate.

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, sliced into thin slabs in small to medium sizes.

This is a dry jerky with a dry surface feel. The slabs are very flexible, bending easily all the way back on themselves without cracking. Biting off pieces seems easy on some slabs, and just a little effort on others. Chewing seems easy overall.

The chewing texture starts out feeling like soft, pliable plastic. There's a light bit of initial chewing resistance, and then it easily breaks down, and soon renders into a soft mass. At that point, it has a meaty, fibrous feel, similar to a steak, but not completely.

I don't see any bits of fat on these slabs, nor any tendon or gristle. I don't feel any stringiness, and did not encounter any unchewable tissues. It all felt meaty.

In terms of clean eating, it's very. My fingers didn't pick up any residue, and I didn't find any fragments of meat falling off.

teriyaki beef jerky

teriyaki sesame jerky
Snack Value

Green Light Jerky sells this Ultimate Teriyaki 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 actually found a decent amount of snackability in this, mostly for its good flavor and easy eating. That price, however, is very high compared to what you'd pay for major brand of jerky in the grocery store, and yet doesn't seem to provide an equally high level of snackability.

For being sold as "The Ultimate Teriyaki", at the same $3.28 per ounce price, it's a fair value. It definitely is not the usual teriyaki flavor, and it's a teriyaki that I would consider better than what the major brands of teriyaki jerky would give you, though at that high of a price, I still don't see it as being awesome (or Ultimate) enough.

Rating

green light beef jerky nutritionI'm giving this a good rating.

This "Ultimate Teriyaki" variety from Green Light Jerky does give out a good teriyaki flavor, one that goes beyond the sweetened soy sauce recipes that many of the major brands tend to offer. It's not as sweet as most teriyaki jerky brands, being a little stronger with the soy sauce, but it offers the subtle flavor overtones that I look for in good teriyaki jerky, primarily an onion and sesame flavor.

But aside from the teriyaki flavor, I'm not really getting anything else. There's only a faint natural meat flavor, and that's about it. I'd like to get a little more spiciness, perhaps just some black pepper, and I'd like taste some more smokiness. I need some kind of "wow factor" to get into the five-star rating, and I couldn't find it in this.

The meat consistency is overall good, being easy to eat for the most part, and free of any fat or unchewable tissues.

If you love teriyaki beef jerky, and you're interested in a different kind of teriyaki flavor, definitely try this.

My recommended beer pairing for this, go with a standard brown ale, like the Moose Drool, or the Downtown Brown, that medium roasted malt flavor should go well with this.

Rating: Good

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