The next review on Beefy Boys will be on a 3 ounce/85 gram bag of their Hot Peppered flavored beef jerky. This jerky is advertised as each strip being completely covered with smoking hot red chile peppers, where the finished product looks completely orange. The bag was graciously submitted by the Beefy Boys Jerky Co. team.
This Beefy Boys brand name is distributed by Top 10 Produce LLC, and are located in Salinas, California. It started with friends Craig Bray and Tony Souza making jerky together at age 11, where Craig is the chef behind all of their flavors. Craig and Tony officially launched the Beefy Boys jerky brand name in 1999. In 2013, Top 10 Produce LLC acquired the Beefy Boys jerky brand. Impressively, every ingredient used is guaranteed to have been sourced within 120 miles, which is truly awesome. Each product is hand crafted in small batches.
Ingredient Review
Ingredients: Beef, Water, Soy Sauce (Water, Wheat, Soybeans, Salt, Sodium Benzoate), Red Wine Vinegar, Brown Sugar, Black Pepper, Seasoned Salt (including Maltodextrin), Spices and other Flavorings. Allergen Warnings: Soy, Wheat
The beef used is ethically raised, meaning it is guaranteed to be free of growth hormones and additional antibiotics. Also, these locally raised cattle have free range access being pasture raised, and then finished with grains. As a result, the highest ingredient rating that can be awarded is a Very Good (9/10) rating.
The liquid marinade is comprised of a decent soy sauce, very healthy red wine vinegar, and water. Red wine contains an antioxidant named resveratrol, which is believed to be healthy.
There are healthy spices used, which includes black pepper. Some people call black pepper the king of spices. The heat is achieved from the red chile peppers, which are healthy if eaten in moderation.
There is no nutrition facts table provided. As a result, the exact sugar and salt levels are unknown.
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.
Very Good (9/10) – Ingredient Rating
Taste Review
These strips are mostly large in size, and sliced borderline thin. Each strip is liberally coated with red chile peppers. The texture is dry, but it’s still reasonably easy to chew. There are no visible signs of fat, and handling this jerky leaves no oily residue on your fingers.
Quickly the heat sets in, and increases as you consume more strips. Eventually, the level of heat settles into a 3 out of 4, or a 3 out of 5 on the heat scale. There is certainly a good burn going on inside your mouth from the red chile peppers.
For a peppered based flavor, there is a reasonable amount of black pepper present. The saltiness is at a mild level, and the garlic is light tasting. Almost no sweetness is present, which allows a decent amount of natural beef flavor. A mild level of soy is persistent, and the red wine vinegar is challenging to detect. Overall, this flavor delivers on both heat and black pepper.
A 3 ounce/85 gram bag sells online for $7.99. That works out to $2.66 an ounce, which rates as an expensive price. This flavor is surely recommended if you would enjoy a fairly spicy peppered flavor.
Very Good (9/10) – Taste Rating
Bag Review
This clear resealable plastic bag has two labels affixed to the front, and nothing on the back. The Beefy Boys logo has a cows head in the middle of a circle, where the red and gold colors are by no coincidence the same colors as the San Francisco 49’ers NFL team.
There are no slogans or facts printed on this bag.
There are some bag categories missing such as the jerky weight not stated in grams, a blurb about the jerky or flavor, a best before date, and nutrition facts table. To the credit of Beefy Boys, a toll free phone number is provided for customer inquiries. A QR Code is printed that links to the www.top10fresh.com web site, which gives details on the farmer or rancher, it does not get any better than that.
Order their jerky online: www.ourlocale.org
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