This will be the second review on Florence Meats peri peri flavored biltong. The bag design has since improved, mustard is a listed ingredient now, and this time it will have a live taste review. This biltong was kindly submitted for review by Damian Goriup and his wife Carol, who took over operating the store from Mario Goriup.
Florence Meats is located in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. Slovenian-born Mario Goriup owned and operated a butcher shop in Johannesburg, South Africa for 25 years before moving to Ontario, and opened Florence Meats in 1977. The term biltong means meat that it is air dried, using a classic South African recipe. It generally takes 9-10 days to dry in a climate controlled cooler. When you walk into their store, there are large strips of beef hanging from hooks on the wall.
Ingredient Review
Ingredients: Beef, Salt, Spices, Mustard
The beef used is purchased from small local Southern Ontario farms, where Florence Meats is a member of Homegrown Ontario. The goal of this organization is to promote Ontario meat and poultry.
Using the vague term spices is fair game, where the actual spices used are not disclosed to their competitors. As a general rule, spices are very healthy. Mustard is an interesting ingredient. While the ingredients in mustard can vary, in general mustard is relatively healthy.
Admirably, there is no sugar used in this jerky. The salt level is a tad high at around 364mg of salt per 28 grams of jerky. Our preference is 350mg of salt or less.
There are no unhealthy preservatives used, which qualifies this jerky to have no sodium nitrite added. Instead, salt is the main preservative. Also, as a bonus, this jerky has no MSG added.
Very Good (9/10) – Ingredient Rating
Taste Review
For the purpose of this review, the beef reviewed is sliced into narrow strips. You can also buy the biltong in small pieces, or shavings. Florence Meats will slice the meat in any style that you desire. Again, for the purpose of this review, we are reviewing their plastic bagged jerky, which has a drier texture compared to their jerky sold in bulk. There are visible signs of fat that enhance the beef flavor, but again, you could request to have no fat. Handling this jerky leaves no residue on your fingers.
The natural meat flavor stands out first. Then the peri peri flavor kicks in, which is a complex blend of spices. A peri peri pepper is hot by nature, and it does not take long for the spiciness to settle in. The heat level builds, but never exceeds a medium intensity level. There does appear to be a faint garlic flavor. This biltong is not sweet tasting whatsoever. Overall, this is a tasty jerky with a wonderful blend of spices.
For the purpose of assigning a price value, we will use the 100 gram bag, also kindly submitted by Damian. A 3.5 ounce/100 gram sells for $8.00. That equates to $2.27 an ounce, which rates as an average price. This jerky is absolutely recommend for people looking for a tasty, moderately spicy biltong that has a healthy ingredient list.
Excellent (10/10) – Taste Rating
Bag Review
We have a non-resealable clear plastic bag that is somewhat small in size. The plastic itself is fairly thin, and not your typical bag that would hold dried beef. There is a label affixed on the front, and nothing on the back. Their slogan is “Premium quality since 1997”.
The majority of important bag categories are covered. There is no blurb about Florence Meats, but in fairness there is no room on the label, and there are no slogans. In accordance with Canadian law, there are French translations provided, but just the bare minimum ingredient list is translated.
Check out their web site: www.florencemeats.com
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