Gary West Meats is a brand of smoked meats and jerky produced by a company of the same name. Based in Jacksonville, OR, it's been serving up its famous brand of meats since 1966 on location at the company's own meat processing facility.
The company was founded by Gary West using recipes handed down to him by his grandfather. In 2004, he sold the business to his daughter and son-in-law. Since that time, the Gary West brand of beef jerky rose in popularity quite quickly being well respected for its wonderful meat taste, and gaining great reviews in such publications as the New York Times and earning the 2008 Editor's Choice award from Outdoor Life magazine.
Gary West Meats is also the only brand that offers a special line of beef jerky made from Certified Angus Beef, an organization that produces a very high quality line of beef. Only 8% of all angus beef qualifies for CAB, and is the most tender and flavorful angus beef around. This review tries out Gary West's "Traditional" Certified Angus Beef jerky.
IngredientsBeef, brown sugar, salt, black pepper, sodium nitrite.
TasteThe first tastes that comes through is a slight sweetness along with the natural meat flavors. Chewing down on it very slightly is enough to get the piece to release more of that natural meat flavor, along with a salty flavor.
I'm not an expert on Certified Angus Beef, so I can't really say that I know the unique qualities that differentiate it from other Angus beef. However, this particular variety of jerky has an excellent meat taste, just like with Gary West's standard traditional beef jerky (
see review here).
This meat has the same smooth, mellow, and almost "buttery" like taste. It's not a sharp taste, but mellow. It's a very delicious flavor, which reminds me of the time I had a rib eye steak at
Lou & Mickey's at the Gas Lamp District of San Diego. It was a steak that had such a rich "meaty" taste, yet so soft and juicy, and it became the comparison steak that I compare other steak houses to. While beef jerky is not exactly steak, this wonderful meat flavor from Gary West Meats has become my comparison beef jerky at least in terms of natural meat flavors.
This particular jerky is actually rather sparse on seasonings. Salt is the probably the most dominant flavoring, though I can't say that it tastes overly salty, even though the nutrition facts suggests it salty. The black pepper listed in the ingredients is detectable, but very slightly. I can only taste it while sucking on a piece, before I actually chew down on it.
I'm out of good quality beer in my refrigerator, and had to resort to a Heineken Light that I've had sitting in there for several months. Like most other "rice brewed" beers out there, I find it ruins the taste of this jerky. I'd recommend a honey blonde ale with this jerky; it won't compete against it's mellow buttery flavor.
Meat ConsistencyThis jerky appears to be made from whole pieces of meat, sliced into strips of about a foot long, and about the width of a meat stick. Note that I cut the strip into smaller pieces for photographic purposes.
I found this to be a semi-moist jerky, probably slightly more dry. It's a "soft and tender" variety of jerky, that is easy to bite off and very easy to chew.
No pieces of fat, tendon, or gristle could be found.
The strips are cut with the grain, making it difficult to tear apart with your with fingers. You have to eat it like a beef stick, basically biting off each piece.
Product ValueGary West Meats sells this Traditional variety of Certified Angus Beef jerky at a price of $9.00 for a 4oz package. That works out to a price of $2.25 per ounce, making it an expensive buy.
At that price, I probably wouldn't buy this since I haven't developed the highly sophisticated palate from differentiating Gary West's Certified Angus Beef jerky from their standard beef jerky. The standard jerky sells for $7.50 per 4oz package.
And for general purpose jerky eating, this makes an expensive meat snack. This isn't something you'd snack on while watching a movie or sitting at a football game, simply because it would be an injustice to ignore this jerky's excellent meat flavors.
But if you're someone whose very anal about enjoying "artisan jerky" for its natural meat flavors, or if you simply MUST have Certified Angus Beef in all of your meat-eating, this is an excellent value.
Rating
I'm giving this a best rating.
The natural meat flavors that come from this Traditional variety of Certified Angus Beef are wonderful with its smooth, mellow, and almost buttery flavor. It's a flavor that has me craving for more and more. On top of that, it has an excellent meat consistency.
In terms of seasonings, it's rather bland, with basically just salt being the only other flavor I can taste. But the natural meat flavors are so good that it's all that I care to taste.
This isn't a jerky that I'd eat for general purpose snacking, but something I'd take with me on a hike up to a nearby waterfall, with a couple bottles of really good beer, and perch myself on a rock ledge overlooking the canyon below, and be thankful for the steer that gave its life for my personal enjoyment.
Rating:
Best
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Labels: Beef Jerky, Best, Gary-West-Meats, Original
Posted: Wednesday, August 20, 2008
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Jedidiah's Jerky is a brand produced by Jedidiah's Jerky and Gourmet Snacks, based out of Laughlin, NV. It's been around since 2005.
The business was founded by David Coffey, a veteran in the beef jerky marketing business since 1984, having spent many years at Polley's Beef Jerky, and having started another brand, River Run Jerky.
The Jedidiah's brand focuses on finding unique recipes and styles of jerky to meet a growing demand from gourmet jerky lovers. Thus far the brand offers two lines of jerky, this Premium line, which appears to be their standard jerky, and a Private Reserve line, which is soft and tender beef brisket jerky.
IngredientsBeef, salt, sugar, monosodium glutamate, paprika, spices, hickory smoke flavor, garlic, sodium nitrite.
TasteA combination of salt and smokiness are the first tastes that hit me right away. That's followed by a faint garlic flavor, and a faint sweet flavor. There's some natural meat flavors that show up after I start chewing.
For being a hickory variety, there is indeed a strong hickory taste and aroma to this jerky.
The saltiness is well pronounced. It's probably the most dominant flavor in this, with the hickory smoke flavor coming in a close second. After about four pieces of this, it's starting to scorch my mouth.
The faint garlic flavor I described above actually becomes more noticeable as I continue to eat more pieces, and as I allow each piece to soak in my mouth for several seconds.
And that sweetness I also mentioned is even more faint. It's not something that stands out, I wouldn't normally notice it if I weren't writing a detailed review. It's there in the background, like ambiance.
Lastly, the natural meat flavors are there, but are not well defined. I'd say the heavy salt flavor does a good job at masking it.
If you were to allow a piece to soften up in your mouth, what you'd find is the hickory smoke flavor dominating, with the garlic, and the "spices", adding background touches. Once you chew into the piece, the salt leaches forth and blots out every other taste.
Overall, this jerky is packed with a lot of flavor, mostly as salt however, but with plenty of hickory smoke flavor too. The garlic and sweet background gives this jerky some added taste dimension. It's a great jerky to just suck on and enjoy the flavors.
Meat ConsistencyThis appears to be made from whole pieces of meat, sliced into medium and thick widths, and in small to medium sized pieces.
This jerky is dry, retaining some flexibility, but will crack and break if bent too far. Most of the pieces are moderately easy to tear apart, with some offering a lot more resistance. I found one piece that was pretty hard. Chewing requires a moderate amount of effort, and some more in the tougher pieces. But like I said, there's enough flavor in this you'd want to suck a piece for awhile before chewing.
Some of the pieces are very lean, with nary a bit of fat, while others have some good fat marbilization. I can't really see the fat on these, but I can certainly taste it. But I find nothing chewy in the way of tendon or gristle.
Overall, this is a dry jerky requiring some effort to tear and chew, but providing a lot of lean meat.
Product ValueJedidiah's sells this Premium Hickory variety from their website at a price of $5.99 for a 3.5oz bag. That works out to $1.71 per ounce, putting this in the average price range.
I'd say that this offers a so-so value for general jerky eating purposes. It's got a lot of flavor that lasts throughout the chew, and some snackability, but offering enough effort in tearing and chewing that you'd find it somewhat distracting. The heavy salt flavor is also something that wears me down after several pieces.
But as a hickory variety, it offers a great value because it does offer plenty of hickory taste and aroma.
Rating
I'm giving this an average rating.
This hickory smoked variety from Jedidiah's offers a lot of hickory smoke flavor with some garlic and faint sweet notes, in a mixture of lean and fat-marbilized meat consistency.
But the heavy salt flavor, and with enough pieces requiring some effort to tear apart and chew, takes away from this jerky's snackability. With a few pieces left to go in writing this review, I don't feel enthused about the eating the rest.
While the toughness can be mitigated by just letting each piece soften up in your mouth, and you can enjoy more of the flavors that way, you're still left with salty jerky. That might be ok with some folks, but it's just my preference to avoid heavily salty jerky.
Rating:
Average
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Labels: Average, Beef Jerky, Hickory, Jedidiahs-Jerky
Posted: Tuesday, August 19, 2008
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Winchester Jerky is a licensed product distributed by Bric-A-Brac, Inc., out of Las Vegas, NV.
The name "Winchester" is meant to be the same name as the brand of gun. This package of jerky uses the same trademarks and images of the famous rifle that "won the west". The Olin Corporation, which owns Winchester, licenses its brand out to several consumer product manufacturers for a wide array of stuff.
Winchester Jerky is not typically found in the United States, with the exception of asian food stores found in various asian communities. Rather, it's largely sold overseas in Japan, and in airports around the world where asian travellers tend to make stops.
Bric-A-Brac knows that the Japanese have a love affair with America's "old west", and beef jerky has gained cult following there as a snack, and thus a product named after the rifle that became synonymous with the old west is a way to boost marketability.
This jerky is actually manufactured by Monogram Meat Snacks, LLC, the same company behind the Jeff Foxworthy Jerky, Trails Best Jerky, and the NASCAR branded hot dogs and meats. Winchester Jerky includes several varieties of beef jerky and ham jerky.
IngredientsPork (ham), brown sugar, water, contains 2% or less of the following: salt, spices, hydrolized soy protein, dextrose, soy sauce, hydrolized soy and corn protein, autolyzed yeast extract, sugar, maltodextrin, flavoring, natural flavors, sodium nitrite.
TasteThere's a sweet initial taste upon putting a piece into my mouth, and that sweetness morphs into a "ham" taste. The saltiness comes on pretty strong, along with its associated soy sauce flavoring, and then I can feel the "tingle" of spiciness in the back of my mouth. As I start the chewing, I can taste more of the ham flavor.
The ham flavors in this are pronounced, though I can't say it's a strong ham taste. Most of the ham taste comes from the surface of these pieces, perhaps in the sugar. I can continue getting that ham taste during the chew, but it's not a strong one.
I'd say that the "spicy" advertisement on the package is warranted, because I do sense some spiciness in this. I'd rate it as mild-medium, or maybe just medium at best. I can taste the chili pepper seasoning in this, and I get it even more when I bite into a chili pepper seed.
The soy sauce flavor that I described above only seems to be detectable when I let a piece soak in my mouth for several seconds, and then I extract the juices. It tastes more like the chinese style soy sauce rather than the japanese.
The saltiness is heavy. It wears me out after pieces, and detracts from this jerky's snackability.
Overall, this spicy ham jerky is very flavorful, with plenty of taste throughout the chew. The flavors that dominate this is the saltiness, the medium-level spiciness, soy sauce, and ham flavors. The sweetness is only dominant in the first few seconds.
Meat ConsistencyThis is a chopped & formed jerky, with medium to thick thickness, and in small to medium sized pieces.
The pieces are dry, and are somewhat on the tough side. They tear apart with some ease, perhaps due to the chopped & formed consistency, but require some effort in chewing. It's better to eat this slowly, allowing the pieces to soften up in your mouth.
I don't find any tiny bits of "hard stuff", like bone or cartilage in this jerky, considering it's chopped & formed, and nor does it have an oily texture which many such jerkies have.
Overall, this has a good meat consistency, if it was easier to chew, I might call it a great consistency.
Product ValueI paid $6.99 for this 5oz bag at a Mitsuwa Market in San Diego, CA. That works out to a price of $1.40 per ounce, making this average priced.
For general purpose jerky snacking, I'd say that this offers a good value. You're getting a jerky with lots of flavor that lasts throughout the chew, with a good meat consistency, and decent amount of snackability. The high level of saltiness, for my own purposes, make it hard for me to snack on. But perhaps it's ok for others.
As a "spicy ham" variety, I'd say it also offers a great value. It tastes exactly that, offering a noticeable ham flavor that has been spiced up with a noticeable chili pepper seasoning.
Rating
I'm giving this a good rating.
This spicy ham variety from Winchester Jerky offers a sweet ham flavor with a medium-level chili pepper seasoning in a good meat consistency.
It's largely the heavy salt flavor that prevents me from giving this a higher rating, with it's tough chewing to back that up. Otherwise, I actually like the flavor of this, with the ham, the sweetness, and the chili pepper seasoning. Just tone down the saltiness please!
As for those Japanese business travellers, who find this package of jerky at an airport terminal shop, go ahead and pick it up. It'll make a great snack on your trip over the Pacific. As you look out the window at 30,000 feet, you'll imagine how the gun-slingers back in the old west used to grind up pieces of leftover ham, marinate them in soy sauce and hydrolized corn proteins, and form them into pieces that look like meat.
Rating:
Good
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Labels: Chopped-and-Formed, Good, Ham-Jerky, Hot-and-Spicy, Winchester-Jerky
Posted: Monday, August 18, 2008
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Gary West Meats is a manufacturer of smoked meats, based in Jacksonville, OR. The company started in 1966, based on old family recipes handed down to Gary West by his grandfather.
While the company is well known for their smoked hams and turkeys, they've made a name for themselves in recent years as a manufacturer of "artisan jerky", putting emphasis on the natural meat flavors.
These elk strips is one of two exotic meat jerkies that Gary West Meats makes. The company says they use elk raised in natural environments, with no steroids, no hormones, and no antibiotics.
Interestingly, the package on these elk strips says "Beef Added", which is very common with exotic meat products. Many other manufacturers produce chopped & formed exotic meat jerky because they mix in about 10% beef, so as to escape the exotic meat certification requirements. However, according to Gary West Meats, they have a different explanation, though it sounds like it could be the same. A USDA inspector is in their factory every day, inspecting beef, but doesn't inspect any of the exotic meats. So in order to get their exotic meats inspected and approved, they add beef to it. To do this, they puree some beef and add it into the marinade. Then they soak the elk strips into the marinade. Technically, there's going to be some bits of beef stuck to the elk strips, but for all intents and purposes, it's whole elk meat.
IngredientsElk, brown sugar, pureed beef, salt, water, black pepper, sodium nitrite.
TasteThere is a slight bit of sweetness upon putting a piece into my mouth, which is quickly followed by a "gamey" meat taste, and then the saltiness, while the black pepper slowly makes itself known.
The taste of elk meat will vary from one person's description to another. I'm not an expert on elk, and it's hard for me to rate this particular elk jerky on its natural meat flavors. But most people seem to describe it as being similar to venison, which is sweeter due to its higher concentration of blood. Elk is also more lean.
These Elk Strips from Gary West Meats do have a strong natural meat taste to it. While the "gamey" taste I described above is there, it's only there on the surface. Once you chew into this, it takes on flavor similar to the company's beef jerky. It has that same mellow, smooth, and "buttery" taste.
The sodium content on the ingredients list seems pretty high, at 640mg for the standard 1oz serving. However, I don't really see this as tasting "too salty". It definitely has a salty flavor to it, but it doesn't wear me out.
Overall, this is a great tasting jerky that puts a lot of emphasis on its natural meat flavors. It's that natural meat flavor that dominates the taste of this jerky, and lasts throughout the chew. The salt is perhaps the second biggest taste.
Meat ConsistencyThese strips appear to be cuts of real meat, about the same width as a meat stick, and in varying lengths.
I'd consider this as being "semi-moist". While the photos below make this look as if its very moist, that's just the glaze on the outside. These strips are easy to bite off and chew.
I didn't find any chewy chunks of tendon or gristle, and no fat.
Overall, the meat consistency is excellent.
Product ValueGary West Meats sell these Elk Strips at a price of $22.00 for an 8oz package. That works out to $2.75 per ounce, making this an expensive buy.
I'd say that for general jerky purposes, I wouldn't buy it. If you compare it to the company's beef jerky, all that I'm really getting out of this is the initial gamey taste. For me, that's not worth paying the extra money to get elk.
As for the nutritional value of elk versus beef, these elk strips don't really provide much advantage. You're only getting something that's a 0.5g lower in fat per serving, and a little bit more in protein. But it's much higher in cholesterol, much higher in sodium, and slightly higher in carbs. I can't really say that this is worth the extra money for the nutritional value.
But if you have to have elk jerky, just for the fact that it's elk, then it's a great buy, mainly because you're not going to find much elk jerky out there, let alone anything that tastes this good.
Rating
I'm giving this a best rating.
These Elk Strips from Gary West Meats do a great job of retaining the natural meat flavors of elk, providing a smooth, mellow, and almost "buttery" taste, with a just enough seasoning to give this some added taste complexity.
For the most part, however, I don't really get a sense that I'm eating something other than beef, aside from that initial gamey taste. I could save myself some more money, and just buy Gary West's beef jerky. But that's really a matter of value.
Otherwise, the meat flavors that come out of this are excellent, and those meat flavors alone have me reaching for more and more. This isn't a jerky that's going to wallop you on seasonings, but will impress you on its natural meat taste.
Rating:
Best
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Labels: Best, Elk-Jerky, Gary-West-Meats, Original
Posted: Saturday, August 16, 2008
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Jedidiah's Beef Jerky is a brand produced by Jedidiah's Jerky and Gourmet Snacks of Laughlin, NV.
The brand, which has been around since 2005, is the idea of David Coffey, a veteran in the beef jerky industry since 1984, having worked for several different brands. He created the Jedidiah's brand to represent a higher quality of beef jerky than most major brands, and to offer something unique and special to the beef jerky lover.
The "Private Reserve" line of beef jerky represents Jedidiah's beef brisket jerky, which results in a very soft and moist jerky. The brand also offers a "Premium" line, which represents standard beef jerky.
IngredientsBeef brisket, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, chili peppers, pineapple juice, garlic powder, worcestershire sauce, honey, pepper, ginger.
TasteUpon putting a piece into my mouth, the very first taste that presents itself is a strong sweetness. A spicy hot bite from the chili peppers follows very quickly, as well as a saltiness.
Being advertised as "hot & spicy", it certainly lives up to that billing. I find it hot enough to moisten my scalp, and leave a good burn on my tongue. I'd rate this as being "hot". But after eating several pieces, my eyes are watering, my nose is running, and I'm having to reach for a swig of water after each swallow.
The package also advertises this as being a teriyaki variety, and there is indeed a teriyaki taste to this. But I think the teriyaki sauce is heavy on the sweet. This is more like "meat candy", than it is teriyaki flavored. But I can still sense the unique teriyaki flavoring that I think it does warrant the advertisement on the package.
The natural meat flavors are not well evident in this jerky, however. First, there's a lot of flavors competing for my attention, with the sweetness, the spiciness, and the saltiness. I let a piece sit in my mouth for several seconds, and extracted out the juices, but still couldn't really get a good sense of the meat flavors. There is indeed a "meat aroma" to this, but I can't really taste the unique beef flavors.
In terms of saltiness, this is definitely on the salty side. There is still plenty of sweetness to this that it offsets a lot of it, however.
Overall, this jerky is just brimming with flavor, with both the sweet, the spicy, and the saltiness dominating the taste throughout the chew. As a spicy variety, this will set your tongue on fire.
Meat ConsistencyThis appears to be slices of real beef brisket, sliced thin, and in strips of about 8-10 inches long, and 1 inch wide.
This is a soft and tender variety of jerky, being semi-moist. It's very easy to tear apart and chew. Some strips do provide a little more resistance to tearing, but still nothing that a toddler can't eat.
Being cut from beef brisket, I can see some fat marbilization, and I do get some chewy material, probably membrane and/or tendon. Otherwise, I found no gristle.
Overall, this jerky provides an excellent meat consistency.
Product ValueJedidiah's Jerky and Gourmet Snacks sells this Hot & Spicy Teriyaki variety from its website at a price of $7.99 for a 3.65oz package. That works out to a price of $2.19 per ounce, putting this into the expensive price range.
For general jerky snacking purposes, it offers a decent value, considering it's extremely flavorful, and very easy to eat.
But as a hot & spicy variety, it's a great value, because it's really hot and spicy. If you found other brands of hot jerky to be disappointingly mild, you'll be happy with this variety from Jed's.
Then as a teriyaki variety, it's a weak value. While there is indeed a teriyaki taste to this, it's heavy on the sugar side, and less on the soy sauce. And at a price of $2.19 per oz, you can find more teriyaki flavor in lesser priced brands.
Rating
I'm giving this a best rating.
This Hot & Spicy Teriyaki variety from Jed's Private Reserve is packed with flavor, offering flavor combination of spicy hot chili pepper and sweet teriyaki, all in a very easy to eat meat consistency.
It also lives us to its advertised flavor, mostly as a hot & spicy variety, and less as a teriyaki variety. There's still plenty of teriyaki taste, but a heavily sweetened one, and one that is overshadowed by the chili pepper seasoning. While the saltiness is on the strong side, it's offset by the strong sweetness, and doesn't really wear you down.
While the natural meat flavors are very difficult to find in this, I still found the intense flavors to make this extremely snackable.
Rating:
Best
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Labels: Beef Jerky, Best, Hot-and-Spicy, Jedidiahs-Jerky, No-Sodium-Nitrite, Teriyaki
Posted: Friday, August 15, 2008
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Gary West Meats is a brand of smoked meats that's been around since 1966, started by Gary West. West based his success on old family recipes taught to him by his grandfather, who ranched the valleys of southern Oregon.
In 2004, West sought to retire and began looking for someone to buy his business. His daughter and son-in-law expressed interest in running the company, and bought it from him. Since then, Gary West Meats revamped its line of jerky and established a reputation of producing some of the finest meat snacks around. They even offer a line of jerky made from Certified Angus Beef.
The company produces its famous jerky, smoked hams and turkeys, at its own facility in Jacksonville, OR. Folks can visit their factory, and sample the products at their "Tasting Room". The company sells products through its catalogs, its website, and in specialty stores.
Gary West Meats claims to use only "grade A maturity beef" and choice cuts, citing the beef as being younger, more tender, and treated more humanely. They make all their jerky by hand from beginning to end, and they smoke them in real hickory chips, no liquid smoke.
IngredientsBeef, brown sugar, salt, black pepper, sodium nitrite.
TasteThis "Traditional" variety is basically the company's original (or plain) variety.
The first taste that I pick up when putting a piece into my mouth, is a slight sweetness, followed by a saltiness. The black pepper becomes noticeable next. The natural meat flavors come on quickly after taking some chews.
This Traditional variety has the same natural meat flavor that I described in the company's
Silver Fork Natural variety. The meat flavor has something of a sweet nature to it, smooth and mellow. I used the word, "buttery" to describe the Silver Fork Natural variety, and I find that same description here as well. There's a certain amount of refined quality in this meat taste that I find irresistible, and one that might even give a vegan second thoughts.
The saltiness is much more defined in this Traditional variety than in the Silver Fork Natural. It's actually too salty for my preference, but the great meat taste makes me want to overlook it.
The black pepper taste I mentioned earlier is detectable, but in slight amounts. I mostly taste it if I let a piece sit in my mouth for several seconds, but I don't taste it in the chew.
The sweetness is only noticeable in the first few seconds after I put a piece into my mouth, it doesn't linger on at all.
Overall, the tastes that dominate this jerky is the salt and natural meat flavors. This Traditional variety is perhaps very comparable to the Silver Fork Natural, except saltier, and of course, cured with sodium nitrite.
Meat ConsistencyGary West Meats actually refers to their products as "beef strips", instead of jerky, claiming that it's more moist than jerky. I don't know that I can buy into that, because I've had a lot of moist jerky in my time. With the way the market has embraced the "soft and tender" concept of jerky, I think this product fits right in to that genre.
These strips are cut into 2-3 inch lengths, about the same thickness as a beef stick. For the most part, it's semi-moist, not just moist. If you bite off a piece, you'll see that it's more dry than it is moist. The photos below give you the sense that these pieces are very moist, but that's just the outside glaze.
In researching the company, somewhere I read that Gary West Meats cuts these strips against the grain, making it easy to tear apart. I don't really see that here in this Traditional variety. I see a mixture of cuts both against the grain, with the grain, and angular.
However, it's still easy to tear off and chew.
Otherwise, I didn't find any chewy pieces of tendon or gristle, and no fat at all.
Overall, these pieces offer an excellent meat consistency for jerky snacking.
Product ValueGary West Meats sells this Traditional variety at a price of $4.50 for a 2oz package. That works out to a price of $2.25 per oz, making this an expensive buy. You can get that price down to as low as $1.63 per oz, if you buy their larger sized packages.
If you just want to enjoy some really great tasting beef flavor, I'd suggest that this is a good value. The smaller 2oz package, priced at $2.25 per oz, takes this out of the realm of general purpose snacking however, and into some level of "beef jerky appreciation". In that sense, price may not be a factor at all.
But for general purpose jerky snacking, it's too expensive, unless you buy the 16oz package and get the price down to $1.63 per oz. But then again, you're still paying $26.00 for the whole package. If you're the type of meat snacker that puts emphasis on the natural meat flavors, then perhaps there is value here.
Rating
I'm giving this a best rating.
This Traditional beef jerky variety from Gary West Meats offers a wonderful meat flavor that I found so irresistible, and in a meat consistency free of everything but pure meat.
In terms of flavorings, it's actually quite bland, and the for most part, relies on salt for its seasoning. And I find it too salty for my preference in fact. But the great meat taste that this offers makes me want to ignore the saltiness and keep reaching for more, in that sense it has an excellent snackability. This is a beef jerky that puts a lot of emphasis on the enjoyment of beef.
I'm getting kinda jealous of the entire West family, they get to eat this stuff all the time. But it makes you wonder if they're so used to eating such great tasting beef, if they can even stomach a burger from a fast-food joint.
Rating:
Best
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Labels: Beef Jerky, Best, Gary-West-Meats, Original
Posted: Thursday, August 14, 2008
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Trader Joe's is a chain of grocery stores across the United States that specializes in eccletic brands, natural and organic foods, and the basic staples.
The company got its start in 1958 as a convenience store. When the hippie movement took off in the 1960s, the company saw a niche that needed filling and reinvented itself with larger stores, and offering the products that you see on its shelves today. And because hippies never had a lot of money, the grocery store chain established a reputation of keeping prices cheap, something they still focus on today.
Like most grocery stores, Trader Joe's offers its own store brand of foods, such as this beef jerky. It's private labeled through Intermountain Natural, LLC, of Idaho Falls, ID. Intermountain Natural focuses on making natural and organic meat products, and also makes jerky for the Golden Valley Natural, and Jerky Direct brands.
This particular variety of Trader Joe's Organic Black Pepper Jerky carries the USDA Organic seal, as well as the Certified Organic seal of Quality Assurance International.
IngredientsOrganic beef, organic evaporated cane juice, water, organic soy sauce, organic apple cider vinegar, salt, organic black pepper, organic paprika, natural smoke flavoring, organic onion powder, organic garlic powder.
TasteA slight sweetness is the first taste I pick up upon biting off a piece, followed by a light taste of black pepper, and not much else.
The natural meat flavors are largely absent in this jerky. Even after letting a piece sit in my mouth for 30 seconds, and then chewing it, I don't really taste the meat.
It's not salty at all, in fact, it might be good get some more salt just to have something to taste.
The black pepper can be detected on each piece in light amounts. But after eating several pieces, I can get a good deal of its aftertaste in the back of my mouth.
The other flavorings mentioned in the ingredients list cannot really be tasted. I don't really pick up any of the soy sauce or onion powder, but I do get a faint sense of the garlic.
Overall, this jerky doesn't taste bad at all, it just doesn't have much taste to offer. I'd say the black pepper is largely what I taste in this, mainly because its aftertaste builds up in the back of my mouth. Otherwise, each specific piece offers mainly that slight sweetness at the beginning, and not much else.
Meat ConsistencyThese pieces appear to be solid cuts of meat, sliced into average thickness, and in medium sized pieces.
This is mostly a soft and tender variety of jerky, being semi-moist. I find it very easy to tear apart, and very easy to chew. All those hippies having lost their teeth will have no problem with this.
I found most pieces with a thin strip of gristle on one edge, and could pick up a bit of its chewiness. But, the tenderization process has rendered it largely unnoticeable if you're not analyzing it closely the way I'm doing. I did find a piece with a small bit of fat on it. Otherwise, these are very lean pieces with no chewy extras.
Overall, this jerky offers an excellent meat consistency, allowing me to focus on the largely non-existant flavors.
Product ValueI paid $4.99 for this 4oz bag of jerky at a Trader Joe's in Temecula, CA. That works out to a price of $1.25 per ounce, making this an average priced jerky.
For general jerky eating purposes, it's an "ok" buy being that $1.25 per oz is actually on the lower-end of average, it offers a great meat consistency, but very little on taste.
As a peppered jerky, it fits the billing, but doesn't offer enough black pepper taste. Even though there is plenty of black pepper to be seen on these pieces, it's flavor doesn't match up. If you love peppered jerky, you might find this to be a waste of money.
But as an organic jerky, it offers an excellent value. $1.25 per ounce is a darn good price for organic beef jerky, even though it doesn't offer much taste. At least you could look at it this way, it's doesn't taste bad at all.
Rating
I'm giving this a fair rating.
This variety of organic peppered jerky from Trader Joe's offers a great meat consistency, being easy to tear apart and chew, with a light flavoring of black pepper.
But that's where the positives stop. Otherwise, I can't taste any of natural meat flavors, which is what everyone wants to taste in a "certified organic" beef jerky. For the most part, it's a slight sweetness that I taste throughout the chew, with just a light presence of black pepper.
The kind of consumer that would really appreciate this are the organic food freaks who have to have everything organic. In that case, they may not care that this jerky is light on taste, but they'll really appreciate the low price.
But considering that beef jerky is a snack food above everything else, I don't really find a lot of snackability here, since I can't get much taste. This would be like eating a package of rice cakes without any topping. Still, it doesn't taste bad, and isn't something I'd throw to my dogs.
Rating:
Fair
Where to buy:
- At any Trader Joe's store
Labels: Black-Pepper, Fair, No-Sodium-Nitrite, Organic, Trader-Joes-Beef-Jerky
Posted: Wednesday, August 13, 2008
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