The Great Canadian Meat Company shortened their brand name to Great Canadian Meat, and they were founded in 1992 as a two-man operation. With their deli line and jerky, Great Canadian Meat has grown to become one of the largest lines of meat snacks in Canada. It is a fairly common sight to see Great Canadian Meat beef jerky for sale in Ontario convenience stores.
Great Canadian Meat has continually strived to create one of Canada’s premier snack food experiences, and they pride themselves on being a Canadian company using the finest Canadian ingredients whenever possible. They source their pork from Quebec and their beef from Western Canada – ensuring the purest of meats from within our borders. They pride themselves on processing through a federally inspected, HACCP-approved, state-of-the-art facility. They’re solidifying their role as a truly Canadian company producing high-quality, tasty meat snacks for their valued customers. This jerky is distributed by The Great Canadian Meat Company, who is located in Whitby, Ontario, Canada.
The next jerky review will focus on a 2.4 ounce/68 gram bag of teriyaki beef jerky from Great Canadian Meat. This is our third review on this flavour, where the bag design has been tweaked. The jerky was kindly submitted for review by Director of Marketing Nicholas Gerald.
Ingredient Review
Ingredients: Beef, Water, Apple Juice, Sea Salt, Soy Sauce, Cider Vinegar, Cane Sugar, Brown Sugar, Dextrose, Natural Flavours, Spices, Molasses, Garlic, Yeast Extract, Sodium Ascorbate, Sodium Nitrite, Smoke Allergen Warnings: Soy
The beef sourced from Alberta 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.
The liquid marinade is comprised of just water and healthy apple juice.
There are some healthy ingredients added, such as spices and garlic. The vague term natural flavours is listed, which may or may not contain healthy ingredients.
The sugar level is high at 7 grams of sugar per 23 grams of jerky to lose a rating. Our preference is 3 grams of sugar or under per 28 grams of jerky for an original based flavour as we have here. The salt level is sort of high at 340mg of salt per 23 grams of jerky. However, the sodium level is ignored because healthy, minimally processed sea salt is added instead of highly processed table salt.
This jerky does qualify to have no sodium nitrite as sodium nitrite is used outright. Admirably, this jerky qualifies to have no MSG added.
Alright (6/10) – Ingredient Rating
Taste Review
GREAT CANADIAN MEAT – TERIYAKI BEEF JERKY
Written by guest jerky reviewer Paul Rekker
When I open the bag I smell nothing. The strips are mainly small, and the jerky is sliced relatively thin. The jerky is a bit rigid and a tad dry, but not bad. It is soft enough to be easily chewable. There is no oily residue left on your fingers handling this jerky.
When I bite into the “strip” (morsel), I am met with light salt and pepper, more than necessary sweetness, vinegar and/or soy, and other than that, a nice blend of marinades and spices, the only one too intense is the sweetness. It tastes pretty much the same as many other teriyaki flavours, not really “wow”ing me, but a decent late-night snack. An 8 or 9/10, maybe nine because it is “as advertised”. Gentlemen?
Written by guest jerky reviewer Stéphane Leclerc
Great Canadian Meats – Teriyaki Beef Jerky is awesome and reminiscent of what I perceive as a tasty Teriyaki flavor. The sweetness is at a reasonable level. The ginger pops in your mouth, the soy is in the background, and the garlic nicely accentuates the meaty taste.
This is a very flavorful jerky; it is subtle and hits all the right notes. It has a fantastic aroma, a great texture, a lovely and well balanced clean taste.
This Great Canadian Meats – Teriyaki Beef Jerky is well worth its 10/10 taste rating, as it will likely please even the harsher critics.
Here is what Mark had to say about this teriyaki beef jerky flavor from Great Canadian Meat: “Thanks Paul and Stéphane for the great taste reviews. We all have slightly differing opinions here, which basically comes down to the sweetness level. Stéphane thought the sweetness was at a respectable level while Paul thought it was too intense.”
“This is not your traditional teriyaki flavour, which by definition is supposed to be sweet. Many teriyaki flavours have an overbearing sweetness from primarily white or brown sugar. Here, we have more sweetness from apple juice and apple cider vinegar, which is somewhat unusual for a teriyaki flavour. A more traditional choice is pineapple juice. The soy flavour is light, as is the salt and pepper. What stood out for me was the garlic level, and surprisingly, I was able to detect the ginger.”
The texture of this beef has a light processed flavour, where the grain of this beef appears to be diagonal. Overall, this is a tasty, interesting take on a teriyaki flavour. With Stéphane at a 10, Paul at an 8 or 9, and myself at an 8, a Very Good (9/10) taste rating will be awarded.”
This 2.4 ounce/68 gram bag of jerky sells online for cost $5.50. That works out to $2.29 an ounce, which rates as a cheap price.
Very Good (9/10) – Taste Rating
Bag Review
This professional-looking resealable plastic bag has everything imprinted directly on the bag, both on the front and back. There are no labels affixed to this bag. The Great Canadian Meat logo has a red maple leaf.
Their slogans are “Genuine Jerky” and “Eat Some Energy”. Some facts printed on this bag are “Low in Fat”, “High in Protein”, “9g Protein”, “Gluten Free”, “Made in Canada”, and “Canadian GCMC25”.
All bag categories are covered with this bag. A good blurb is printed on the back about Great Canadian Meat jerky. In accordance with Canadian law, there are French translations provided.
Excellent (10/10) – Bag Rating
Order their jerky online: www.greatcanadianmeat.com
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