Dried and True Beef Jerky - Chile Limon

Dried and True is a brand that I covered a couple of years ago with their Sriracha Lima and Korean BBQ varieties. Recently, they sent me packages of their Original, Chile Limon, and Spicy Teriyaki.

Founded in Venice CA in 2012, by a local named Matt Lauster, Dried and True Beef Jerky sought to change to people's taste buds and perception of what beef jerky could taste like. After refining his product by selling at local farmer's markets and the LA food festival scene, Matt claims that so many customers have proclaimed, "This is the best jerky I've ever eaten!". He uses exclusively from California raised beef without chemical preservatives, nitrates/nitrites, MSG or high fructose corn syrup.

This "Chile Limon" variety is described by the company as their spiciest jerky, claiming that it will "sure to please the heat seekers and chile heads". It offers a spritz of lemon juice to balance out the spicy heat.

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Krave Beef Jerky - Chili Lime

Krave Beef Jerky is a brand owned by Krave Pure Foods, Inc. based out of Sonoma, CA. It started in 2011 by Jon Sebastiani, who got started in the food business working on his family's winery in Sonoma.

Knowing that many people have a negative connotation with jerky, he sought to market Krave to the "non-jerky eater". He designed packaging that didn't look like traditional jerky packaging, and came up with flavor names that would appeal to women and gourmet foodies. He also promoted the health qualities of his jerky, and stayed away from selling Krave in traditional markets like convenience stores and gas stations.

This Chili Lime beef jerky is described by the company's as "...tender slices of knuckle-cut domestic beef teamed with medium-hot chili and finally balanced with zesty lime...and its unique profile provides a dose of medium heat that partners well with the acidity of the citrus."

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Dried and True Beef Jerky - Sriracha Lime

Next in the series on Dried and True Beef Jerky is this Sriracha Lime variety. See our other reviews of Dried and True Beef Jerky.

Dried and True is a brand of all natural, artisan beef jerky based in Venice, CA. The brand was launched in August 2012 by Matt Lauster. The brand has managed to create a following around Venice, selling out at local farmer's markets and specialty stores.

This Sriracha Lime is made from Lauster's homemade Sriracha sauce made and boosted with Thai chiles, fresh garlic, and a tangy citrus finish of lime.

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Clint & Sons Beef Jerky - Chile Lime

Next in the series on Clint & Sons Beef Jerky is this Chile Lime variety. See our reviews of their other flavors.

Clint & Sons is a meat processing facility located in White Deer, TX. It's a family run business that goes back to 1944 when Clint Freeman opened it up. Today it's run by his sons and grandchildren. The company recently upgraded from state inspection to federal inspection, allowing them to sell jerky across all 50 states.

This Chile Lime variety is described as a tender cut that has been slow marinated in a unique blend of seasoning, and then slow smoked over real hickory, and finally hit with a hint of lime.

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Golden Island Beef Jerky - Chili Lime

Next in the series on Golden Island Beef Jerky is this Chili Lime variety. See our previous review of their other flavors.

Golden Island Beef Jerky is a brand of Formosa Meat Co., Inc. based out of Rancho Cucamonga, CA. I had originally reviewed Golden Island back in 2008, but just recently the company unveiled a new package design, reformulated recipes, and eliminated the use of preservatives.

This Chili Lime beef jerky was among the flavors I had reviewed back then (see old review).

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Jerk Nation - Chili Lime

Next in the series on Jerk Nation is this Chili Lime beef jerky. See my previous review of their Original Spicy.

Jerk Nation is a brand of Adams Gourmet, Inc. based in Parkland, FL. It's the first "Shake and Season" concept, where the jerky comes with a seasoning packet. You tear open the packet, pour in the amount of seasoning you want, then shake the bag.

The meat has a slight bit of moisture on the surface that allows the seasoning to stick. The jerky was actually manufactured by Magnolia Provision, who makes the Smoky Mountain brand.

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Frank's Redhot Steak Strips - Chile 'n Lime

Frank's Redhot Steak Strips is a product of Boulder, CO-based Thanasi Foods, LLC, under a license from French's Foods. They're marinated with the Chile 'n Lime version of Frank's Redhot sauce. Read my previous review of Frank's Redhot Beef Jerky.

The marriage between Frank's Redhot sauce and beef jerky originally came in March 2007, when Thanasi Foods launched the original variety of Frank's Redhot Beef Jerky. A year later, they introduced this Chile 'n Lime variety in a "steak strip" form. They also offer these two flavors in meat sticks.

In October 2008, Thanasi won an award from Convenience Store News, a print magazine representing the industry, for this Chile 'n Lime variety as the "Best New Salty Snack" for 2008. Thanasi won comparable awards in 2006 and 2007 from CSP Magazine, another convenience store publication, for its Jim Beam Beef Jerky.

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Walgreens Beef Jerky - Chile Limon

"Steakhouse" is the store brand of jerky at Walgreens Drug Stores. I saw this particular variety of Chile Limon while perusing the meat snacks section at my local Walgreens the other day, and was intrigued.

First, the package is stamped "Limited Edition"; I don't know for how long Walgreens has been offering this Chile Limon variety.

Second, the meat consistency appears to be whole muscle instead of the chopped & formed that they use in their other varieties. I had previously reviewed Walgreens' Teriyaki and Black Peppered varieties, which both received "dog treats" ratings from me. But because this appears to be a whole-muscle jerky, I wondered if this stuff might be any better.

Mirab USA is the company that actually made this jerky, the same private labeler that made Walgreens' chopped & formed jerkies. When I pulled this package off the shelf, I noticed that Walgreens' teriyaki, black peppered, and original varieties are still chopped & formed. I thought it was interesting that this limited edition Chile Limon uses a different meat consistency.

Ingredients

Beef, water, brown sugar, salt, maltodextrin, red pepper, black pepper powder, citric acid, paprika, lime juice solids, monosodium glutamate, garlic powder, chile jalapeno flavor, sodium tripolyphosphate, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite.

Taste

The tastes I pick up from the surface of these pieces includes a moderate level sweetness, some chile pepper flavor, a slight lime flavor, some saltiness, and a slight spicy burn tingling in the back of my mouth. In the chewing, I taste a bit more saltiness, and a slight smoky flavor.

My initial thoughts as I continue to sample more pieces is that there seems to be more surface flavor than chewing flavor. If you start chewing these pieces immediately upon putting them into your mouth, the surface flavors are there throughout the chewing. But if you suck on each piece first, and then chew, you won't find much chewing flavor.

For being advertised as a "chile limon" variety, I do indeed pick up a chile pepper taste, though not a strong one. It's probably a moderate level taste. The spicy burn from the chile pepper is also noticeable, but one that I'd rate on my hot scale as a medium. It's probably more like medium-hot to those who don't tolerate spicy foods. Some pieces are more spicy than others. And I also do pick up a weaker, but still noticeable, lime flavor. I'd say it does it's job living up to its advertised flavor.

For a moment I thought I may have detected some natural meat flavors, but after focusing in on that notion, I lost the taste. And after haven eaten several pieces, I haven't really found any that gave off a natural meat flavor, even to a slight amount. I think you might find the smoky mesquite flavor in there, but don't confuse that for being a meat flavor.

There's also a strange, but still very light, aftertaste that I can't quite describe.

The level of saltiness in this is moderate.

Overall, the flavor that dominates this jerky is the chile pepper flavor with its chile pepper taste and burn together. The second-strongest flavor probably goes to the sweetness, while the saltiness takes third. The lime flavor, while noticeable, doesn't really have any kind of dominant presence, it's just there to help color the overall flavor.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be slices of whole meat, sliced medium thickness, and in small to medium sized pieces.

It's largely a "soft and tender" style of jerky, with a slight bit of moisture noticeable in the touch. It's very easy to tear apart, and easy to chew.

The chewing texture has a definite mushiness to it, and not really all that steak-like. While a few pieces seemed to have a more fibrous character to it, even they were still noticeably mushy.

While these pieces didn't really leave any residue on my fingers, they seem to crumble apart fairly easily. Looking at my lap, I don't see any meat fragments however, but I found a couple of chile pepper seeds landing on my desk as I tore some pieces apart. There's also a lot crumbled pieces in the bottom of the bag.

A few pieces had some visible bits of fat, but overall it seems fairly lean. I did find some pieces to contain something chewy in the way of connective tissue, but I didn't necessarily see it, only felt it. I can't really tell you what it was.




Snack Value

I paid $2.99 for this 3 ounce bag at a Walgreens store in Menifee, CA. That works out to a price of $1.00 per ounce, putting this on the border between cheap and average. Walgreens will also discount this to $0.83 per ounce if you buy two packages.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at this price, it's a good value. I do pick up some good snackability in this with its good flavor intensity, moderate flavor complexity, and easy-to-eat consistency. The combination of chile peppers, sugar, salt, and lime flavors actually makes this taste good.

As a chile limon variety, it's a great value, because at this low of a price you're getting some good chile lime flavor. It's more weighted towards the chile pepper than the lime, but you'll still taste the lime. If that's the flavor combination you love in a meat snack, you'll get it here.

Rating

I'm giving this an average rating.

Even though I said I like the flavor of this jerky, I still had to ask myself if this is an above-average jerky compared to all the beef jerkies I've reviewed, and I kept coming back to "no". It's basically very snackable, and it does live up to its advertised flavor, but then again that's the basic standard I would expect any jerky to be.

In terms of going beyond that, I couldn't find anything. While it is easy to eat, which itself is a positive, I found the chewing texture to be largely mushy, and that cancels each other out.

And I couldn't really find any natural meat flavors either.

On the other hand, Walgreens is positioning this jerky on its low price. It's other jerky varieties really missed the mark on taste and consistency, but this Chile Limon variety is actually decent.

My recommended beer variety with this jerky is a hefeweizen or wheat beer.

Rating: Average

Buy this online:

• http://www.walgreens.com/

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Tillamook Country Smoker - Chili Pepper & Lime

Like many other people, I didn't really know that the company who makes the "Tillamook Jerky" is different from the company that makes the "Tillamook Cheese", but it's true. Tillamook Country Smoker makes the beef jerky that many of us know about, while the cheese is made by Tillamook County Creamery.

But the two do in fact share a history. Dick Crossley, a dairy farmer whose business is part of the Creamery cooperative, decided to start a side business making beef jerky using his father's recipe. He asked the Creamery if it would be ok to use the name "Tillamook Country Smoker", and received approval. The Creamery actually sold his meat snacks in their gift shop and their catalogs, and at one time became one of the Creamery's biggest sellers.

But as the Creamery expanded its cooperative to more farms, and built a brand that was recognized worldwide for its cheeses, it decided that there wasn't enough room for a meat snack to share the name "Tillamook". A cease and desist letter was served, and eventually a court case was heard, and in the end it was the meat snack that won. Tillamook Country Smoker continues to build a name for itself as a beef jerky brand, though if you ask me, I think it still owes a lot of thanks to the Creamery for having helped build that brand.

Ingredients

Beef, brown sugar, water, salt, spices, lime powder, garlic powder, oregano, citric acid, sodium nitrite.

Taste

The tastes I get from the surface of these pieces is a slight sweetness, a chili pepper taste, some of the spicy tingle of the chili pepper, and a slight smoky aroma. Moving into the chewing, I get a greater a degree of sweetness, hints of that oregano, a slight bit of salt, and more of the chili pepper burn.

It's a very flavorful jerky in that there's a good concentration of flavor, as well as a complexity of flavors. The sweetness is very apparent, as is the chili pepper, the salt, slight taste of that oregano, and the smoky aroma. There's some slight garlic and black pepper aftertastes as well noticeable after several pieces.

The natural meat flavors are not be found however. I can't really identify the meat flavors in this. I do sense the smokiness, but nothing that resembles the taste of meat.

For being advertised as a "chili pepper & lime" variety, I do get a good sense of chili pepper. Not only can I feel its burn on my tongue, but I can actually taste it too. But I can't taste the lime. I don't really find anything that shows up as lime, or even as citrus, or tangy, or sour, or even fruity.

I think the taste that dominates this jerky is the chili pepper with its taste and burn. I'd rate the hot level as being medium. It's just enough to give my scalp a tingling, but not enough to produce any drops of sweat running down my neck.

The second most strongest taste in this is the sweet, both from the surface and in the chewing. It's probably more appropriate to bill this jerky as a "sweet and hot" instead of chili pepper and lime.

The third strongest taste characteristic is the salt. The salt flavor in this moderate, despite the generous 650mg of sodium showing in the ingredients list.

Overall, it's a great tasting jerky with its strong chili pepper taste and sweetness. I like the hints of oregano in the background.

Meat Consistency

This is a whole muscle jerky, cut into pieces measuring about 1 inch by 2 inches.

It's a soft and tender jerky, being easy to tear apart and easy to chew. It doesn't really provide a steak-like chewing experience, rather it chews like a chopped & formed jerky, though it's not chopped & formed. It's not really steak-like, not really like hamburger-like.

It's a fairly clean jerky, leaving nothing on my fingertips, though pieces of chili pepper seeds tend to fall off on to my lap.




Snack Value

I paid $4.99 for this 3.25 ounce package at a Riteway grocery store in Renton, WA. That works out to a price of $1.53 per ounce, putting this into the average price range.

For general jerky snacking purposes, it has a great value. It's something I'd buy again. It offers a tons of flavor, and is easy to eat. Even though it doesn't offer a steak-like chewing experience, nor offer any natural meat flavors, I found the flavorings to be good enough to make this very snackable.

As a chili pepper & lime variety, it's a fair value only because you'll get a good sense of chili pepper seasoning, but nothing at all like lime, or citrus. I might be disappointed in having wasted money on something I thought would provide some tangy lime taste, but even then it's still a tasty jerky on its own merits.

Rating

I'm giving this a good rating.

First, I found this jerky to be very snackable with its great overall flavor and ease in eating. But it also won extra points for its strong concentration of flavor, and complexity of flavors.

But beyond that there isn't any "wow factor" to push it up to that best rating. Even though it offers no meat flavors, I can overlook that if the seasoning and marinades are exceptional. I do think the flavor is strong enough to make me overlook that. On the other hand, if it could have also provided that meat taste, I might be impressed enough to give it a best rating.

It also didn't totally live up to its advertised "chili pepper & lime" variety. It was just chili pepper, but no lime.

I think a light tasting, honey blonde ale would make a great companion beer.

Rating: Good

Buy this online:

• http://www.tcsjerky.com

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Golden Island Beef Jerky - Chili Lime

The Golden Island brand specializes in fusing together the more popular asian flavors Americans enjoy and infusing them into beef jerky.

I never exactly knew where the "chili lime" flavor combination came from, but I know that I see it in many recipes these days. Golden Island says it came from the cuisines of Thailand and Vietnam. For some reason, I thought it had its roots in hispanic cultures.

Golden Island is owned by Universal Food Company, a third generation family-run business that started in 1952 as a manufacturer and wholesaler of specialty meat products in Taiwan. In 1983, they began producing asian food products for specialty markets in the USA under the "Formosa" brand. In 2002, they launched the Golden Island brand of beef jerky.

I always felt that Golden Island's approach at infusing asian flavors into beef jerky is a great idea. I just wonder why they haven't expanded it beyond the same four varieties they've offered over the past several years. If I might make a suggestion to them that could help sales, try getting some better meat, or find a better meat processor.

Ingredients

Beef, chili lime seasoning (modified corn starch, maltodextrin, sugar, spices, salt, corn syrup solids, citric acid, onion, garlic, paprika, natural flavors, extractive of paprika, lime oil, silicon dioxide), sugar, soy sauce, lemon juice, soybean oil, salt, crushed red chili pepper, potato starch, chili powder, natural lemon emulsion, citric acid, paprika, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite cure, yellow #5, garlic powder, onion powder, disodium inosinate & disodium guanylate, red #40.

Taste

Biting into a piece, what I taste first is this citrus flavor, not necessarily lime, or lemon, or orange, just citrus. The citrus flavor is not that strong either. It's noticeable, but it doesn't hit you with a baseball bat. In fact the pieces probably have a stronger citrus aroma than they do taste.

The chili seasoning is noticeable too, but is not strong. This jerky is not hot by any means, it's not even medium hot, just mild. Even if you're not used to hot foods, I think you'll consider this mild as well. That's a disppointment because the package makes the claim that this is "HOT".

The natural meat flavors are also noticeable, but again, not very strong.

I can't even say this is very salty either, which is a good thing for me. I don't like salty jerky.

There is another taste in this, and is probably the result of some other chemical ingredient. But it gives off the taste of real chinese food. If you were at a Chinese restaurant, digging into a piece of orange chicken, or mongolian beef, there's this "chinese-like" taste you experience that is present at all chinese restaurants. This jerky has it too.

Overall, this jerky has a decent taste. I would prefer to taste more lime and more chili. I think adding a third flavor ingredient would make it more interesting.

Meat Consistency

These are real cuts of meat, sliced in medium to thick slices, and in small, medium, and large pieces.

There is just way too much gristle in this. Take a look at the close-up photo below, where I centered a line of gristle running up one of the slices. Every medium and large piece had gristle either running up the middle, or along the sides. Most bites I took contained some chunk of gristle. I found myself pulling off strips of it, or nibbling the meat off of it.

The pieces range from soft and tender, to hard and dry. Once piece was very tough to eat. I found another piece, by contrast, that was soft and semi-moist. Overall, I'd say that these pieces are dry, and require a moderate amount work to tear apart and chew.

I did find some small chunks of fat on some pieces.





Product Value

I paid $5.99 for this 4oz bag at a Cost Plus World Market in Temecula, CA, working out to a price of $1.50 per ounce. That puts this in the average price range.

I'd say this jerky has a fair value. The taste is ok, possibly even good. But the meat consistency detracts too much from the overall enjoyment of this jerky. It's mainly the abundance of gristle that turned me off. The fact that it requires some effort to tear apart and chew is worth mentioning, but I can overlook that if the taste is great. In this case, it's not "great".

As a "chili and lime" variety, this does offer the taste, but just not enough of it. If you're going to market something as "chili lime", it ought to taste plenty like it.

Rating

I giving this a "fair" rating.

The biggest thing I look for is "snackability", meaning how well does this satisfy my urge for snacking? I don't feel that compelled to keep reaching for another piece. I'm at the last piece, as I write this sentence, and already I'm thinking of handing it off to my dogs.

If the meat consistency were softer, easier to tear off and chew, and didn't contain any gristle, I would probably keep reaching for more. The taste is good, but just enough of it. Being this is a chili-lime variety, it needs more chili and lime.

Rating: Fair

Buy this online:

• Amazon.com

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Smokey's Beef Jerky - Chile Lime

Smokey's Beef Jerky is a little jerky business in Big Bear Lake, CA, located right on Big Bear Lake Blvd inside a little house. They also sell candies and coffee blends.

All their jerky is presented inside a display case, it's not sealed in plastic bags like so much other jerky is. But that only means you have to eat it right away, or otherwise it dries out and loses its freshness. They don't use any preservatives and is made 100% all natural ingredients.

Taste

Because I don't have a package label, I can't give you an ingredients list.

Mostly what I taste right away is chili powder and some saltiness. As for the "lime", there is in fact a citrus-like overtone, but the chili powder flavor is largely what dominates this variety. The small pieces of chili pepper add enough spiciness that I'd classify this as "medium hot".

There is perhaps a faint taste of the natural beef flavors.

Meat Consistency

These are made with real slices of beef, sliced average, and cut into large pieces.

The piece I have here for review is very dry, and rather tough to tear off and chew. Each chunk I tear off leaves tiny white frayed fibers sticking out. A sign of being overly dry. It's more of a "man's jerky".

This piece appears to be very lean, I don't see much fat on this at all.

Product Value

I paid $16.50 for 8 ounces of mixed variety. That works out to $2.06 per ounce, putting this into the expensive category. Note that the company's website shows a price of $15.00 for 8 ounces, which would put it at $1.88 per ounce, just barely into the "average" ballpark.

As a beef jerky, this Chile Lime variety doesn't offer much value considering its high price point, mainly because the experience it offers is ruined by it being very dry and very tough to tear and chew. But it does offer good value as a chile lime variety because you get a lot of chile taste in the powder and pieces of chile pepper, but just don't get much lime flavoring.





Rating

I'm giving this variety a "fair" rating.

It's best merit is that it offers plenty of chile flavoring in a chile lime variety, and overall the taste is good. It's just that being overly dry and very tough, ruins the snackability, and ruins the whole jerky experience. It had me losing my interest for this variety, even though I liked it's chile taste. Perhaps it was just my review piece that was particularly bad.

It would be nice to get some more lime flavor too.

Rating: Fair

Buy this online:

• Smokey's Beef Jerky

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