Ed's Custom Beef Jerky - Mango Habanero

Ed's Custom Beef Jerky is the creation of Ed Carbury, based out of Huntington Beach, CA, and has been in operation since 2003.

Ed originally started selling his Habanero beef jerky on eBay, and soon perfected a dozen more flavors so that consumers could mix and match their orders. All of his jerky is made from USDA London Broil and then vacuum sealed. He uses no preservatives. Ed's Custom Beef Jerky has won taste competitions on Peppers and More.

This Mango Habanero appears to be a new flavor from Ed considering his website doesn't currently list this flavor. We're assuming it's supposed to combine the both the flavors of mango and habanero peppers, and thus is the basis of this review.

Ingredients

USDA beef, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, spices, flavorings, hot sauce, garlic powder, pepper, onion powder, cayenne pepper.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is the habanero pepper flavor, along with a hot sauce flavor, similar to a vinegar-based sauce.

The chewing brings in a stronger saltiness, along with some of the natural meat flavors. Meanwhile, a burn builds up quickly.

As for being marketed as "Mango Habanero", it doesn't quite fit the billing. I don't pick up any mango flavor, nor any kind of fruity flavor. I do, however, taste the habanero pepper, and a good deal of burn to go along with it.

Otherwise, the flavors that define this jerky starts largely with the combination of habanero peppers and hot sauce. I get lot of the chile pepper flavor, but I also get that vinegary hot sauce flavor too. It's like a blend of habanero peppers and cayenne. There's a light sweetness that's noticeable right away at the beginning, but then gives way to the habanero and hot sauce flavors, and then the natural meat flavors come in next.

Aside from the Mango, the ingredients seem to combine well to create a hot, spicy jerky with a lot of chile pepper flavor. There's enough seasoning to give this some savory character, while the initial sweet helps draw you in. For all intents and purposes, this jerky does a good job of making me reach for more.

On my personal heat scale, I'd rate this as medium-hot (level 4 out of 5).

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, cut into bite-sized pieces.

This is a dry jerky with a lightly sticky surface feel. Chewing seems easy to do, with just a little bit of chewiness, but overall a tender chew.

The chewing texture starts out with little bit of initial chewing resistance, but easily breaks down and feels meaty right away. By the time it's chewed down to a soft mass, it feels very much like chewing pieces of steak.

I don't see any fat on these pieces, nor any gristle or tendon. I felt no stringiness and found no unchewable tissues. It's very meaty.

As for clean eating, there's faint bits of stickiness on my fingers, but still clean enough to touch my keyboard.

Snack Value

Ed's Custom Beef Jerky doesn't yet sell this Mango Habanero beef jerky from its website. But I'm assuming it will be priced at the same $15.00 for two 4oz bags. Shipping is flat rate $5.05 across the United States. If you bought 16oz of this stuff, it would cost you $2.19 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $2.19 per ounce price, it's a good value. I'm getting a really good flavor, excellent meat consistency, and good chewing texture, at a price that's slightly more than what I'd pay for other brands in stores. Even the cost is slightly higher, the taste, consistency, and chewing is way better.

As a Mango Habanero style beef jerky, it's a fair value. I don't get any mango flavor, or any fruity flavor at all. But I do get a lot of good habanero pepper flavor, hot sauce flavor, and a good deal of heat.

Rating

I'm giving this a good rating.

This Mango Habanero beef jerky from Ed's Custom Beef Jerky offers up some good habanero pepper flavor along with a dose of hot sauce, cayenne and vinegar. It doesn't, however, give off any mango flavor, nor any kind of fruity character.

But it's not to say this jerky is a disappointment. It actually is still rather good, creating an addicting flavor that hot heads will really enjoy. And even without the mango flavor, it still has an initial sweet kick. But because "mango" is in the name of this jerky, and because it doesn't back up that flavor, I can't award it any higher than a 4-star rating.

Otherwise, it's easy to chew, and the bite-sized pieces adds to the snackability. It's also very meaty, with no stringiness or other unchewable tissues.

Rating: Good

Buy this online:

• http://www.edscustombeefjerky.com/