Mesquite Creek Jerky Co – Dill Fuego Beef Jerky

I’ve recently become more of a fan of beef jerky. It’s a great protein-packed snack that’s excellent for quelling hunger without a ton of calories and certainly better than binging on bags of chips or cookies from the office vending machines. While occasionally some very tasty brands show up on the shelves of the local Wawa or 7-11 I’ve found that the big commercial players often leave a lot to be desired when it comes to flavor. Since I’ve found the best hot sauces are available via online purchase I thought that perhaps jerky would be the same way. Doing some reading on Reddit I saw Mesquite Creek’s name pop up a few times and checking out their website they do have many creative flavors.

Mesquite Creek Beef Jerky is based out of South Texas and produces some intriguing and creative flavors for jerky using traditional hand crafted methods. Their jerky is on the dryer side, I’d say it’s more of a carne seca than the moister variety of jerky that’s sometimes sold. This isn’t a bad thing, some will have a personal preference for one style over the other, but I enjoy both. I ordered several different bags from them but wanted to start with one that looked especially interesting to me – Dill Fuego. I’ve enjoyed pickle flavored chips and pickle flavored hot sauces, and I enjoy pickles themselves, so why not a pickle flavored beef jerky?

Dill Fuego takes their beef jerky and flavors it with pickle brine, dill, garlic, other spices, and something curious I saw on the label – Azu-Mecha Furia. While on first glance that looked like the name of a giant robot from a Japanese anime, as it turns out is a Mexican seasoning blend. This jerky has a natural looking appearance on one side and a bright fiery red coating on the other. The pickle brine and dill come through very strongly, as does the salt, this is perhaps a bit saltier than some other jerkies I’ve tried, though not overbearing. The heat level is low on this particular flavor, but there is a very savory chile pepper taste that permeates and provides a great balance to the dill and pickle flavors. I found this jerky to be pretty dang addictive and finished the bag snacking on it throughout the day at work.

I’m looking forward to trying the brand’s other flavors, but I will recommend Dill Fuego, especially if you’re a pickle lover like I am.

Ingredients: Beef, Salt, Spices (including Dill), Sugar, Garlic Powder, Citric Acid, Dill Pickle Brine, Natural Spice Extractives, Azu-Mecha FURIA.

Heat Level: 1/10. This is quite mild but does have a nice chile pepper savory flavor in addition to the pickle flavor.