Gourmet Jerky is a brand of jerky produced by the company of the same name, based out of Claremont, CA. It's been in operation since 1992. Their focus is on making "mouth-watering jerky products to the world's most discriminating customers", placing customer satisfaction as their number one concern.
The brand uses no sodium nitrite or monosodium glutamate, and no sugar.
Their jerky is sold in specialty shops and farmer's markets throughout Southern California, as well as through their website.
Ingredients
Turkey, soy sauce, water, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper.
Taste
I get a slight soy sauce taste right off the surface, followed by a black pepper taste, and then by some turkey taste. Going into some chewing, I can pick up more of the turkey flavor, while the black pepper continues to work on my palate. In the background, I can maybe sense some of the garlic, and feel a very slight spiciness.
Turkey jerky continues to enjoy a strong following in this country, I think mainly because people think it's more healthy than beef jerky. But in fact, it really isn't, mainly because beef jerky is already extremely lean, and offers about the same amount of fat and cholesterol. Therefore, you buy turkey jerky for the taste of turkey.
And the taste of turkey is definitely what I get in this variety from Gourmet Jerky. It has a rather fresh taste that reminds me of a piece of breast meat straight from the dinner table. For the most part, it's the dominant flavor of this jerky, which I was even able to pick up from the surface of the pieces as well.
Salt is perhaps the second strongest flavor, but is not overly salty, it's about just right for my preference. The black pepper is noticeable, and I'd say is the third strongest flavor. Those two seem to do a great job of coloring the natural turkey flavors into something more snack-worthy.
That soy sauce flavor I described at the top only seems to be there initially, from the surface, and doesn't really last throughout the chew. Or perhaps put another way, the soy sauce seems to migrate into a salt taste within a matter of seconds.
That slight spicy tingle I also mentioned continues to be there in the background, but doesn't really have any specific taste to it. It just seems to be there to provide some "life" to this jerky. On a hot factor, I'd still rate this jerky as mild.
Overall, this is a great tasting turkey jerky that gives you a strong turkey flavor, and highlights it with some seasonings.
Meat Consistency
These appear to be slices of whole meat, sliced thin, and in medium to large pieces.
This is a thin dry jerky, being fairly brittle, but still having some degree of flexibility. If bent too far, they crack and break. For that matter, it's very easy to tear or break off a piece, and easy to chew.
It's also a clean jerky, leaving no sticky, oily, or powdery residue on my fingers.
I found no amounts of fat, tendon, gristle, or connective tissue on these pieces either.
Product Value
Gourmet Jerky sells this Natural Turkey Jerky variety from its website at a price of $7.00 for a 4 ounce package. That works out to a price of $1.75 per ounce, putting this into the average price range.
For general jerky snacking purposes, this offers a great value because of its great taste and great meat consistency. It makes it highly snackable.
As a turkey jerky, it's also a great value because of its strong turkey flavor that tastes fresh, and resembling a real piece of turkey breast meat.
Rating
I'm giving this a best rating.
This Natural Turkey variety from Gourmet Jerky does an excellent job of emphasizing the natural meat flavors of turkey, one by giving you a strong taste of turkey, and two by using the right amount of seasonings that add interest to the meat without overpowering it. It also has an excellent meat consistency making it easy to enjoy.
I'll also note that there's no added sugar in this, which will satisfy some of the jerky purists out there, and helps keep the calories down.
A good beer with this would be a wheat beer (hefeweizen).
Rating: 
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I'm Steve Johnson, and I've been in the Internet marketing and publishing business since 1997. I've been a life-long fan of beef jerky and decided to merge my profession with my snack food of choice, and gave birth to Best Beef Jerky.
Sample Blog Post One
2 years ago
Steve, I can not believe how much jerky you eat! You're not tired of it yet? You're amazing, and I hope you are still losing weight!!
ReplyDeleteGood job, you jerky eater. We want you to keep on eating it. :)
Well ok, for one I do like eating jerky. Two, I've made it my business to review it, that's why I keep eating it. Three, I'm counting on all you jerky industry folks to pass along my name and help me turn this into the top publication of the meat snacks industry.
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