Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Blue Ox Jerky Co - Cherry Maple Smoked Turkey

blue ox jerky
Next in the series on Blue Ox Jerky Co is this Cherry Maple Smoked Turkey. See my previous review of their Peppercorn Smoked Beef.

Blue Ox Jerky Co is based out of Troy, MI, having launched in January of 2011. Legend has it that the company was started by Saul Bunyan, lesser known brother of the famous Paul Bunyan. Saul had accidentally set fire to Paul's bovine companion, Babe the Blue Ox, and opted to douse the fire with teriyaki sauce. And hence, a business was born selling jerky.

According to the company, it was Saul who had a knack for luring turkeys into barns with this unique cherry maple sauce and then turning them into strips of jerky.

Ingredients

Turkey, sugar, cherry syrup, salt, maple flavor, onion, garlic, spice, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a fair amount of sweet, a light smokiness, and a faint touch of maple. A light saltiness comes into view shortly after.

The chewing flavor starts with an increased saltiness, and a touch of natural turkey meat flavors. The sweetness and touch of maple seems to continue. I can pick up a little bit of the garlic and onion seasonings.

For being marketed as "Cherry Maple Smoked Turkey", it's doesn't quite live up to the billing. I can pick up a light bit of the maple flavor, but it's hard to identify the cherry flavor. What I pick up is a fair amount of sweetness, but not necessarily the unique flavor of cherry. I don't really pick up any kind of fruity flavor. It does, however, have a light smokiness, and a light natural turkey meat flavor.

Otherwise, the flavors that seem to define this jerky is primarily the sweetness, with a light layer of real wood smoke and maple flavoring. I can also pick up touches of garlic and onion towards the latter part of chewing, along with a light amount of natural meat flavor.

Overall, it's a mild tasting jerky with no spiciness. The saltiness seems to be at a moderate level.

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, sliced into slabs and strips of medium size, and sliced thick.

This is a dry to semi-moist jerky with a lightly oily surface feel. There's a fair amount of flexibility to these pieces, but will crack open with some bending. Biting off chunks is easy, and chewing is quite easy.

The chewing texture starts out with a little bit of resistance, but breaks down easily enough. It continues on somewhat crumbly, and by the time it chews down to a soft mass, it has something of a meaty feel, but still rather crumbly.

I don't see any bits of fat on these pieces, nor any gristle or other tissues. I don't feel anything unchewable or stringy in these pieces. It's very meaty.

As for clean eating, my fingers pick up a light amount of oiliness, requiring some licking and wiping before touching the keyboard.

cherry maple turkey jerky

cherry maple smoked turkey
Snack Value

Blue Ox Jerky Co sells this Cherry Maple Smoked Turkey from its website at a price of $24.25 for a one-pound package. Shipping costs to Southern California generally comes to about $8.00 according to the company. That works out to a total of $2.02 per ounce. Shipping is free if you purchase more than $75.00.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $2.02 per ounce price, it's a fair value. I'm getting an overall satisfying flavor along with a good meat consistency and decent chewing texture. Compared to major brands of jerky sold at grocery stores, it costs about the same, but seems to offer a similar snackability.

As a Cherry Maple Smoked Turkey jerky, at the same $2.02 per ounce price, it's a decent value. I don't get any cherry flavor, but I do get a light taste of maple, along with a light smokiness and light natural turkey meat flavor.

Rating

I'm giving this an average rating.

This Cherry Maple Smoked Turkey is a mild tasting jerky perfect for meat snackers who don't tolerate spicy foods. It has a lot of sweetness, though not really any cherry or fruity flavor. It does, however, deliver on the maple flavoring to a light but noticeable degree, and it does offer a light real wood smoke flavor.

As a turkey jerky, it seems to give off a nice natural meat flavor, though the chewing texture tends to feel crumbly, though still having some turkey-like qualities.

Overall, it has an average amount of snackability, but tends to come off as bland. If the cherry flavors could make a good showing I think it would generate enough interest to keep this from going bland, and generate more snackability.

A good beer pairing with this, go with a German-style weiss, like the Franziskaner or Ayinger.

Rating: Average

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