Ryder's Savage Jerky - Peppered

Ryder's Savage Jerky is a brand that launched in 2017 by Monica Willoughby based out of Sacramento, CA. Monica currently markets her jerky at local farmers markets, street fairs, and online through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

She started the business as a way to create a college fund for her 5-year old son Ryder. Last year she launched a crowdfunding campaign to secure licenses, materials, and equipment. Last month she got a boost after being featured on a television news show in Sacramento.

This Peppered beef jerky has no other marketed claims other than its name, "Peppered".

Ingredients

None provided

Review

The first flavors that I taste is a light sweet followed by a moderate level of salt. There's a light soy sauce flavor that comes long with shades of garlic. The chewing brings on a bit more soy sauce definition, while a light black pepper flavor is noticed.

For being marketed as a "Peppered" beef jerky, this offers more of a light black pepper flavor, mostly through bursts of flavor when the teeth bite into a chunk of cracked pepper corn. There's a mix of large cracked pepper corns and bits of granulated pepper easily visible. Yet still, black pepper remains a light flavor.

Otherwise, the primary taste profile is a sweet, soy sauce forward flavor, almost similar to teriyaki. The level of saltiness varies from moderate to high, while a light bit of garlic lingers behind. The natural meat flavors are light, and typically found in the latter part of chewing.

The meat consistency is good, though one slab revealed a fair amount of fat chunks. Otherwise, this is a dry jerky that remains chewy like one would expect from jerky. It's not tough, but still requires some chewing to get through. Once chewed down soft, they have a steak-like texture. I found some stringiness, but nothing extreme or troublesome.

Verdict

This Peppered variety from Ryder's Savage Jerky delivers a light black pepper flavor, though can produce more when teeth bite down into a cracked pepper corn. Otherwise, this jerky is more weighted towards a sweet, soy sauce-forward profile that fans in the Deep South would find very popular. It has a more fresh, small-batch character than the larger, corporate brands, and still feels and chews like pieces of real steak. It has that homemade taste and texture because that's what it is, homemade. It tends to be, however, salty. But then again, that might be just fine for snackers whose taste buds have been worn down by years of moonshine and chewing tobacco. On the other hand, this jerky does have Savage in its name, and well of course, Raiders' colors.

Rating: Good (4/5)