Note: For a more recent taste review, open Strollo’s – Hot Garlic Beef Jerky (Recipe #2).
The next review on Strollo’s beef jerky will be on a 1.5 ounce/42 gram bag of their hot garlic flavor. The owner, Michael Strollo, graciously submitted this jerky for review.
Strollo’s is located in Eatontown, New Jersey, and their jerky is distributed under the name Strollo’s Homemade Beef Jerky. This jerky claims to have the lowest sodium content of any jerky in the U.S.A, where this jerky does have the lowest sodium content of any jerky reviewed to date. This jerky is advertised to contain no preservatives, additives, MSG, or nitrates. Just as praiseworthy, this jerky has pretty much no sugar.
Ingredient Review
Ingredients: Beef, Soy Sauce (Water, Wheat, Soybeans, Salt, Sodium Benzoate {preservative}, Water, Teriyaki Sauce (Brewed Soy Sauce)(Wheat, Soybeans, Salt), Wine, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Water, Vinegar, Salt, Spices, Onion Powder, Succinic Acid, Garlic Powder, Sodium Benzoate {preservative}, Liquid Smoke (Water, Natural Smoke Flavor, Vinegar, Molasses, Caramel Color), red pepper, garlic. Allergen Warnings: Soy, Wheat
The beef used is not guaranteed to be free of growth hormones or additional antibiotics. Also, the beef is not guaranteed to have at least partial free range access to graze on grass. As a result, the highest ingredient rating that can be awarded is a Good (8/10) rating.
As with all Strollo’s flavors, they share a base recipe of soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, liquid smoke, and water used in the marinade. That is smart business sense, in helping keep your costs under control, instead of using a wide array of ingredients for each flavor.
With this being a hot garlic flavor, the super healthy fresh garlic are used, as well as very healthy red chili peppers, which are healthy if eaten in moderation.
Apart from the very unhealthy sweetener high fructose corn syrup, the ingredients are for the most part good. The teriyaki sauce does have a small amount of the preservative sodium benzoate, which is not so healthy, but only a small quantity was used, where the dehydrating process diminishes the effectiveness.
The salt level is extremely low at only 65mg of salt per 28 grams of jerky. It is also great to see that no sugar is used.
There is no sodium nitrite, or any other similar unhealthy preservatives added by Strollo’s. Instead, salt is the main preservative. With further kudos, there is no MSG added in this jerky.
Decent (7/10) – Ingredient Rating
Taste Review
Note: For a more recent taste review, open Strollo’s – Hot Garlic Beef Jerky (Recipe #2).
Most of these hand sliced jerky strips are medium-small in size. The thickness is borderline medium. There is no residue left on your fingers while handling this jerky, except for the odd red pepper that falls off. As for fat, there is none to be seen anywhere.
There is a light soy taste here, followed by some heat that slowly builds from the healthy red peppers. As you eat more strips, the heat intensity levels off at a fairly consistent level. At most, we would classify this hot garlic flavor as medium in spiciness.
There is some hickory smoke taste to this jerky, which is a good contrast to this jerky having almost no sweet taste. It also allows the natural beef flavor to shine through. Overall, a very pleasurable jerky to eat, where you could easily finish a 1.5 ounce/42 gram bag in one sitting.
You can purchase a six pack of this jerky for $23.00 from Strollo’s web site. That works out to $3.83 a bag, which works out to $2.55 an ounce. That rates as a somewhat expensive price. As with every Strollo’s jerky flavor, they are all well worth your money if you are looking for high quality artisan craftsmanship.
Very Good (9/10) – Taste Rating
Bag Review
First and foremost, this bag is vacuum sealed, where there is no better way to preserve freshness. It’s a transparent bag, fairly narrow in width, and the slits are angled down to open the bag, not the usual left and right. There is a label affixed to the front, and nothing on the back.
The Strollo’s logo is interesting, which shows a tough looking cow beating somebody up. On the floor is a baseball cap that states “Competitor”. Strollo’s slogan printed on the bag is “Our Meat Can’t Be Beat”.
All the important bag categories are addressed with this bag. There is no blurb about Strollo’s, but in fairness, this is a small bag only containing 1.5 ounce/42 grams.
The last bag photo is the old bag style of Strollo’s hot garlic flavor that I purchased in 2013, at a liquor store in Phillipsburgh, New Jersey.
Order their jerky online: www.strolloshomemadebeefjerky.com
Leave a Comment