Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Mama Mia's Beef Jerky - Turkey Jerky

mama mias turkey jerkyMama Mia's is a brand of jerky based out of Corona, CA. The business was launched by Mia Styles who's father, an avid meat smoker, showed her how to make jerky.

I had reviewed Mama Mia's a year ago, which at that time, the company offered only one flavor of jerky. Since then, they've introduced this Turkey Jerky, along with a Sweet & Spicy.

When a family friend tasted some of her father's jerky, he wanted to know how he could get more. From there, it spurned Mia into turning her dad's jerky into a business, and thus was born Mama Mia's Beef Jerky.

Ingredients

Turkey, soy sauce, brown sugar, burgundy wine, molasses, liquid smoke, onion, garlic, black pepper, tapatio sauce, sodium nitrite.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a lot of sweetness. It's followed by a light saltiness, and a hints of seasonings.

The chewing flavor starts with much of the same, but with an increased saltiness. The seasonings and marinade gets a little stronger over time. A black pepper flavor comes in towards the end.

For being marketed as "Turkey Jerky", it has a light natural turkey meat flavor, but it seems overwhelmed by the heavier sweetness.

Otherwise, it's the sweetness that seems to define the flavor of this. I get a light saltiness mixed in, and some lightly noticeable black pepper. The other seasonings and marinades are not identifiable on their own, but they do add a little bit of savory.

For the most part, it's a mild tasting jerky, great for folks with sensitive palates, or snackers who love heavily sweetened meat confections.

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, sliced into slabs of medium thickness, and in medium sized pieces.

This is a semi-moist jerky with a semi-moist surface feel. The pieces are very flexible. Biting off chunks seems easy to do, while chewing seems easy overall.

The chewing texture starts out feeling tender, moist, with just a light bit of initial chewing resistance. It chews down pretty easily and quickly to a soft mass. At that point, it feels somewhat crumbly, which is on par with most turkey jerky, with a slight resemblance to turkey meat breast meat.

I don't see any bits or streaks of fat on these pieces, but I do find small streaks of gristle but they don't add to the chewiness. Otherwise, this jerky is very meaty.

In terms of clean eating, my fingers pick up a light amount of residue and a faint stickiness, but nothing requiring licking or cleaning.

turkey jerky

turkey jerky
Snack Value

Mama Mia's sells this Turkey Jerky from its website at a price of $6.00 for a 3oz package. If you bought 10 packages, shipping comes out to $5.00. That works out to a price of $2.17 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $2.17 per ounce price, it's a weak value. I'm getting a little bit of snackability for an overall acceptable flavor, and good meat consistency. Compared to major brands of jerky found in grocery stores, it seems to have a similar, or slightly less snackability, though a higher price.

As a turkey jerky, at the same $2.17 per ounce price, it's a fair value. I get very little natural turkey meat flavor, though a decent turkey jerky chewing texture.

Rating

I'm giving this an average rating.

This turkey jerky from Mama Mia's is largely a heavily sweetened jerky with a light saltiness and a hint of black pepper. The natural turkey meat flavors are very light, perhaps overshadowed by the heavier sweetness.

The flavor has some snackability, if you like sweet jerky, but as a turkey jerky, you'll get a touch of turkey flavor, and a decent resemblance of turkey jerky chewing.

Otherwise, it's a mild flavored jerky, good for general audiences, and perhaps kids will like it for its dominant sweetness.

Rating: Average

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