Here’s a picture of our Old Country Road jerky. Notice the fennel seeds on top?
These are a few brands of fennel seeds available in Stuttgart. The two on the left are from Edeka, a big supermarket chain in Germany. The one on the right is from our local Asian market. Although they may look similar at first glance, they are actually noticeably different. I discovered this by accident.
Malaya (left) has the smallest seeds. It was actually this size difference which first caught my attention as I sprinkled the toppings onto the jerky. Edora (middle) has the most intense aroma and flavor, and the seeds are even noticeably puffier when chewing. In terms of price, Edora costs about three times as much as the other two brands!
The clear winner for our jerky is Malaya. Jerky toppings should have an interesting and complementary flavor without being overpowering. The texture and mouth feel are just as important. Malaya was our favorite in all of these categories.
Kiddo had no preference.