I recently had the opportunity to try one brilliant product that I wanted to share with you; Primal Strips! They are meatless vegan jerky strips in a variety of flavours. I don't eat beef, but I have very fond memories of salty, chewy beef jerky strips from my childhood. For me, these are a good compromise.
They come in 6 flavours: Thai Peanut, Teriyaki, Mesquite Lime, Hot and Spicy, Hickory Smoked and Texas BBQ. All of them are high in protein and relatively low in sugar. They also come in a range of ingredients. Some are seitan-based, some are made with soy and one is even made of shitake mushrooms! There are also 2 gluten free flavours!
Thai Peanut:
This is one of the seitan jerkies. The texture was nice and chewy, it had a little bit of spice and a nice peanut taste. I adore peanut sauce and I double-adore Thai food, so this one was a winner for me.
Texas BBQ:
This is a soy jerky and, lucky for you celiacs, it is gluten free. The texture is a little different than the seitan jerky, but I wouldn't say that it is better or worse. If anything, it is just as chewy, but has more of a pull-apart consistency. The flavour is really nice too. It tastes exactly like sweet and tangy BBQ sauce :) The one caveat? I was eating one of these in a meeting recently and my friend sitting beside me said, "What is that? It smells like dog food." Nice. Well, I assure you, it doesn't taste like dog food!
Hot and Spicy:
This one actually had a good kick of heat to it. My taste buds are a little messed up, so I usually don't taste things that are "spicy" to normal humans, but this gave me a little mouth tingle :) It wasn't too spicy though, most people should be able to handle it. This one was made out of shitake mushrooms, which is cool, although it still isn't gluten free. It had a slightly different flavour and texture than the soy kinds, but it was still delicious.
Hickory Smoked:
Here is another gluten free one! It is made out of soy, so if you have an allergy, it would be a problem, but it's one of only 2 celiac-friendly flavours! I love hickory and this was nice and smokey, a little spicy and the perfect amount of salty. Definitely one of my favourites!
Mesquite Lime:
This had to be one of my favourites. The lime really added a zippy, interesting quality to it that was unlike any of the other flavours. It was super yummy, chewy and no beef jerky could hold a candle to it!
Teriyaki:
The teriyaki tasted pretty convincingly like a piece of teriyaki chicken from a restaurant. The actual seitan is nothing like chicken, but the flavours were just right. It had just the right amount of sweetness and tang.
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So, to conclude, I really love all of these. They are great, portable, filling snacks that are high in protein and fibre. My favourite flavours were definitely Thai Peanut and Mesquite Lime. I found that those two were the most unique and appealing to me.
Let me know if you try them!
Do you have a favourite jerky alternative?
What flavour of Primal Strips would you be most interested in trying?
