Jerky refers to meat that has been cut into strips, trimmed of fat, marinated in a spicy, salty, or sweet liquid, and dried or smoked with low heat (usually under 70°C/160°F) or is occasionally just salted and sun-dried. The result is a salty, savory, or semi-sweet snack that can be stored for a long time without refrigeration.
Jerked meat was one of the first human-made products and was a crucially important food preservation technique for survival. Beef jerky comes in many flavors, until recently none was kosher.
Over the weekend I picked up at Pomegranate, my favorite supermarket, three different flavored packages of R. J.s Kosher Beef Jerky. These were:
Original: sligtly spiced and marinated.
Teriyaki: for that sweet oriental flavor.
Spicy Strips: with just enough spice for you to notice.
Of the three the last one was my favorite. I went on a few hours drive yesterday and this was a perfect snack as I didn’t have to worry about refrigeration.
Beef Jerky is normally associated with America’s early cowboys, however, while these cowboys may have popularized such snacks on our shores, various encyclopedias tell us that the process of making jerky has been around from the earliest time. In fact, a booklet from R.J.s traces this particular method of preserving meat all the way back to biblical times.
The hechsher is given by the Rabbinical Council of California (RCC). Their website lists many other mouthwatering flavors and products, I’ll have to try them all! Meanwhile I found these three packs very tasty!
CS
Hey, i was actually looking to comment somewhere about this product. I am a Beef Jerky lover. I am also kosher, i tried all of them and i will list a number value next to each one, according to what I liked. 1 is worst, 10 is best. This is my honest opinion:
— Ezras Beef Jerky – SCORE: 3
— H0ly C0W – SCORE: 2
— RJ’s Kosher Beef Jerky – SCORE: 9.5
I would have given RJ’s a 10, but the only thing perfect out there is G-D!
Alright, keep up the good work, i love food reviews… off to losing some weight…
Yaakov
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I have tried RJs and Holy Cow. RJ’s wins by a long shot (I called Holy Cow “beef chewing gum” on my blog)!
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Ooh. I’m going to have to go ahead and sort of disagree with you here. 🙂
I have tried RJs and Holycow. Holycow wins hands down. RJs not only tastes like cardboard, its texture is resembles corrugated sheets of packing material. Holycow is moist and delicious. Plus Holycow is certified by the OU and is Beit Josef for Sephardim and is Bishul Yisroel. They talk about it on their website: http://www.holycowkosher.com/. For my money, I rate Holycow a 9.999999999999…
I have never tried Ezra’s but I am curious. Can I find them at Pomegranate? Do they have a website?
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just stumbled upon RJ’s Kosher Beef Jerky new website…check it out!!!
http://www.kosherbeefjerky.com
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for people who know what REAL beef jerky is all about…then rjs kosher beef jerky is the way to go.
there soo many types to choose from..beef, ground beef, turkey and salmon.
i just saw on their site that they now sell hot sauce as well!
check their site out, http://www.kosherbeefjerky.com
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