The next review on Mad Cow Jerky will be on a 0.6 ounce/18 gram bag of their BBQ beef jerky flavor. While the choice of using ‘Mad Cow’ in the jerky name seems curious, there is zero connection to any sort of mad cow disease. This jerky was kindly submitted by the owner and founder, Mary-Anne Delost (M.A.D.).
The Mad Cow Jerky brand name is based out of Morwell, Victoria, Australia. This jerky is distributed under the name of Maryanne Collyer Delost. It all started with Maryanne making jerky for her family. Then by word of mouth, the orders started piling up. By 2014, Maryanne officially launched this Mad Cow Jerky brand name, and has not looked back. Today, her jerky is for sale in several hotels and shops, and continues to grow. With all of her flavors, you get the impression that a great deal of love and care is put into each bag of jerky with its expertly hand sliced strips of jerky.
Ingredient Review
Ingredients: Beef, Tomato Paste, Salt, Pepper, Sugar, Clove, Nutmeg, Onion Powder, Liquid Smoke, Malt Vinegar.
It has been confirmed that the cattle used have some free range access to forage on grass, and roam about. Just the way nature intended. It is also confirmed that the cattle are not given growth hormones or additional antibiotics. That qualifies this jerky to use ethically raised beef.
The liquid marinade is comprised of tomato paste, liquid smoke, and malt vinegar. Tomatoes are loaded with the very healthy antioxidant lycopene. Malt vinegar is an interesting choice, which is made from fermented alcohol, and offers many health benefits.
There are very healthy spices used such as black pepper, cloves, nutmeg, and onion powder.
The sugar level is very commendable, only having around 0.5g of sugar per 28 grams of jerky. The salt level is respectable at around 294mg of salt per 28 grams of jerky. Worth noting, Himalayan pink salt is used. Himalayan pink salt is considered by many to be the purest salt in the world, and contains many essential/trace minerals.
The main preservatives used here are salt, and to a lesser extent the malt vinegar. That qualifies this jerky to have no sodium nitrite, or any other similar unhealthy preservative. Admirably, there is no MSG added.
Very Good (9/10) – Ingredient Rating
Taste Review
These uniformly sized hand sliced strips of beef are medium in size, and sliced fairly thin. The texture is quite dry, but still easy to chew because the slices are thin. There are no visible signs of fat, and handling this jerky leaves no oily residue on your fingers.
The first taste detected is a delicious tomato based flavor. There is a great blend of spices with the cloves, nutmeg, and onion powder. This jerky is only mildly sweet at best, and lightly salted. Occasionally, you get a faint peppery taste.
In the background, there is a mild smoked taste. With the lack of sweetness, you experience a good deal of natural beef flavor. Overall, this is a very enjoyable barbecue based flavor, where the tangy flavor leaves you wanting more.
A 1.76 ounce/50 gram bag retails for $7.50. That works out to $4.26 an ounce, which rates as an expensive price. While this jerky is pricey, at least compared to North American jerky prices, we certainly recommend this jerky as worth trying.
Very Good (9/10) – Taste Rating
Bag Review
This is a rather small, brown paper bag. There is a layer of plastic in the bag to help keep the jerky fresh. It is unusual to see jerky sold in paper bags, where this jerky only has a two month shelf life.
The Mad Cow Jerky logo is of a cow’s head. Stated on the bag is “Proudly Australia Owned”.
For a small sized bag, impressively many of the bag categories are covered. Missing categories are no best before date, no bar code, and the jerky weight is not stated. Admirably, a phone number is provided for customer inquiries.
Check out their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/pages/MAD-Cow-Jerky
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