Saturday, January 23, 2016

Think Jerky - Ginger Orange

think jerky
Think Jerky is a new brand that hit the scene late last year. Based out of Chicago, IL, the brand spent nearly two years perfecting its recipe for a health-conscious market. The company claims to have "cut the salt in half" and replaced them with herbs and spices.

Think Jerky is a collaboration with three celebrity chefs, Chef Laurent Gras, a three-star Michelin Chef, Chef Matt Troost, a Baconfest champion, and Chef Gale Gand, a TV-host on Food Network. Together, their goal with Think Jerky is to create a great tasting jerky, with grass-fed beef, free-range turkey, that's paleo friendly, gluten free, family-farmed, with no artificial preservatives, and all natural ingredients

This "Ginger Orange" is described by Chef Gand as infusing her recipe with classic ingredients from East Asian cooking, "layering savory atop citrus with a ginger bite for a distinct, singular flavor".

Ingredients

Grass fed beef, tamari sauce, cane sugar, ginger, granulated garlic, orange peel, granulated onion, sesame seeds, cayenne pepper.

Review

The first thing I pick up on my palate is a beefy flavor with a light citrusy orange. I can pick up a faint ginger. The chewing brings on more of an orange zest with a sharper ginger. I can also detect a weak spicy heat and touches of onion.

For being marketed as "Ginger Orange" it seems to hold up well. The orange has more of a citrus tang and zesty orange peel, while the ginger is well noticeable with touches of its natural heat. There's a bit of heat in this, which feels mild to me, but I think is just enough to warrant, "mild medium" on my personal heat scale (level 2 out of 5).

Otherwise, the primary taste profile is a "beefy" flavor, which might be better compared to a beef broth with some actual natural meat flavor. The citrusy tang and orange zest, along with the sharp ginger make significant additions to the flavor. There's a light bit of onion seasoning rounding things out.

The meat consistency looks good in that I see mostly all meat, with little fat or stringiness. The chewing starts out dry, yet tender, but becomes mushy after several chews. It doesn't really have a meaty, or steak-like feel.

Verdict

This Ginger Orange beef jerky from Think Jerky definitely delivers on a combination of tangy orange contrasted with sharp ginger to created a lively flavor over a beefy, onion-seasoning. It hits all areas of the tongue from sweet, spicy, savory, tangy, pungent, yet lightly salty. While the meat consitency is good, and the chewing tender, it tended to chew mushy and not really resemble the texture of natural beef. Overall, an exciting, protein-packed snack that caters to a health-concsious, active lifestyle.

Rating: Good


ginger orange beef jerky

orange ginger beef jerky

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