Indiana Craft Jerky – Original Beef Jerky

The first review on Indiana Craft Jerky will focus on a 2.5 ounce/71 gram bag of their original beef jerky flavor. This jerky was kindly submitted for review by the president of Indiana Craft Jerky, Michelle Twaddell.

This Indiana Craft Jerky brand name is distributed by Indiana Craft Jerky LLC., located in Avon, Indiana. For ten years, Michelle’s husband Ron shared his jerky with family, neighbors, and friends. After three years of unsuccessfully trying to launch a jerky company, Michelle decided to take over. One of the biggest challenges of starting a jerky company is finding a USDA compliant commercial kitchen. Michelle managed to find an owner of a closed down restaurant to rent their kitchen. Recognizing that many vendors at farmers markets face the same challenge, Michelle convinced this former restaurant owner to rent their kitchen to other companies, rather than re-open or close down. By April 2015, the Indiana Craft Jerky brand name was launched.

Ingredient Review

Ingredients: Trimmed & Lean Beef, Hot Sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, Soy Sauce, Water, Orange Juice, Minced Garlic, and Curry Powder, Ginger, Paprika    Allergen Warnings: Soy, Wheat

The beef is sourced from a local butcher named Moody Meats, which is a 5th generation family run business. They source beef from local farms, and their own farm. The cattle do have some free range access to graze on grass. There are no guarantees that the cattle are not administered growth hormones.

The liquid marinade is comprised of hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, water, and orange juice. While the Worcestershire sauce ingredient list is not listed for this flavor, it is disappointing that it uses the artificial ingredients propylene glycol and artificial color.

Healthy spices used are curry powder and paprika. Curry is comprised of multiple spices that can include coriander, cumin, turmeric, ginger, and cloves. It is always great to see when garlic and ginger are used.

There is no nutrition facts table provided. As a result, the exact sugar and salt levels are unknown. Based on the taste alone, the sugar level seem minimal, and the salt level might be somewhat high.

This jerky does qualify to have no sodium nitrite, or any other similar unhealthy preservatives. Instead, the main preservative used is salt. Admirably, there is no MSG added.

Decent (7/10) – Ingredient Rating

Taste Review

These strips of jerky are mostly medium in size, and sliced thin. They have a great dry texture that is relatively easy to chew because the strips are sliced thin. There are little visible signs of fat, and handling this jerky leaves no oily residue on your fingers.

The first taste detected is a moderately strong tasting Worcestershire sauce, combined with a mild soy taste. There is almost no sweetness, which allows a good deal of the natural beef flavor to come through. The garlic level is light, and there is a light citrus flavor from the orange juice.

While this flavor does use hot sauce, it is barely spicy tasting. You could say that this flavor is moderately salty. The most surprising aspect is how well the curry powder compliments the flavor. Overall, this is a very tasty and flavorful treat.

This 2.5 ounce/71 gram bag sells online for $8.00. That works out to $3.20 an ounce, which rates as an expensive price. While this jerky is pricey, it is a great snack for people that enjoy an original beef jerky flavor.

Excellent (10/10) – Taste Rating

Bag Review

This resealable plastic bag has a label affixed to both the front and back. Their logo is a circle with M&R in the middle, which stands for husband and wife Michelle and Ron.

Their slogan is “Hand Made”. Each flavor has a drawing to the left of the flavor name, where for this original flavor, it is a cow’s head. There is a small blurb printed about this flavor: “The first and still the most popular”. Something appreciated is that the bag displays the heat and sweetness levels.

The majority of bag categories are covered here. Some missing categories are a nutrition facts table, the jerky weight is not stated in grams, and a missing wheat allergen alert. To the credit of Indiana Craft Jerky, a phone number is provided for customer inquiries.

Alright (6/10) – Bag Rating

Order their jerky online: www.indianacraftjerky.com