Note: For a more current taste review open up Maui~Licious – Teriyaki Beef Jerky (Review #2).
The next review on Maui~Licious beef jerky will focus on a 3.65 ounce/103 gram bag of their teriyaki flavor. Dr. Chuck kindly submitted this jerky bag for review.
The jerky brand name Maui~Licious is distributed by Maui~Licious, Inc., and based out of San Juan Capistrano, California. Dr. Chuck started this business in 2000. As the jerky story goes, a jerky maker wanted to buy a 5 gallon bucket of their Teri-Licious sauce to use on their jerky. Instead, Dr. Chuck started making his own jerky, and the rest was history.
Ingredient Review
Ingredients: Beef, Teriyaki Sauce (Soy Sauce, (Water, Wheat, Soybeans and Salt) Granulated Sugar, Garlic, Ginger, Sesame Seed Oil, Minced Onion, Lavender Spice, Bourbon Flavor (Propylene Glycol, Alcohol, Carmel Color, Water, Artificial Flavors, contains Sulfites). Allergen Warnings: Sesame, 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.
We certainly have a unique ingredient list here. The liquid marinade is purely just teriyaki sauce. Sesame seed oil is a healthy food, but some people have a sesame allergen.
It is nice to see some super healthy vegetables used, such as minced onion, garlic and ginger.
The most interesting ingredient is lavender spice. The scent of lavender, a flower, is said to be soothing to the human spirit, and has been used as a culinary herb for centuries. No other spice smells like lavender, and it has multiple health benefits.
Easily the worst ingredient is the bourbon flavor. Bourbon is one of the more expensive alcohols out there, where it would be much cheaper to use some sort of unhealthy, artificial flavor. Using artificial flavors is terrible, and especially propylene glycol, which is a derivative of oil.
The sugar level is extremely high at 13 grams of sugar per 28 grams of jerky. For a sweet based teriyaki flavor, our preference is 5 grams of sugar or less. The salt level is just at the acceptable limit of 350mg of salt per 28 grams of jerky.
This jerky contains no MSG, and no sodium nitrite. Apart from the pretty much mandatory salt, there are no unhealthy preservatives used in this jerky.
Alright (6/10) – Ingredient Rating
Taste Review
These strips of jerky are mainly small in size, with no pieces exceeding three inches in length. The thickness is not totally consistent, with a mix of thin, and medium, but mostly medium thickness. This jerky is advertised to be “Tender & Juicy”, where it certainly does fit the bill of having a soft and tender texture. There are no signs of fat to be seen anywhere. While the jerky strips have a minor stickiness to them, there is no residue left on your fingers while handling this jerky.
The first flavor picked up is the sweetness, where a teriyaki flavor should be sweet by definition. A light soy taste follows, and then you are hit with a very bold, unique, complex, strong, overall flavor.
As you eat more strips, the sweetness remains at a consistent level, which I would term as medium, or slightly more, but not overbearing. There is a faint taste of garlic, and the sesame taste is barely perceptible, and the salt level seems minor. The taste is so bold that it masks almost all of the natural beef flavors.
This 3.65 ounce/103 gram bag retails for $7.99, which works out to $2.18 an ounce. That rates as an average price. We recommend this jerky as being worth your money, where this flavor is anything but boring.
Bag Review
This bag certainly has some color. No labels on this bag, and everything is imprinted directly on the bag. There are colorful plants and flowers, with a body of water in the background, presumably the ocean. Above the water, the sky in the background gradually gets bluer the higher it gets, quite clever.
Slogans printed on the bag are “Gourmet”, “Tender & Juicy” and “Deliciously Flavorful”. The Teri-Licious trademark name is printed on both the front and back.
Almost all bag categories are covered. Missing are allergen alerts, and the jerky weight is not stated in grams. As stated earlier, this 3.65 ounce/103 gram bag was admirably vacuum sealed. There is a nice blurb about Maui~Licious printed on the bag. To the credit of Maui~Licious, they provide a toll free number for any customer inquiries.
The bag displayed in the middle is a 1.8 ounce/51 gram bag of this teriyaki flavor that retails for $4.99, also kindly submitted by Dr. Chuck. The last bag listed at the bottom is another 3.65 ounce/103 gram bag of their teriyaki flavor that I purchased at a convenience store for $6.99 in 2011, while traveling through San Clemente, California.
Order their jerky online: www.maui-licious.com
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