Pa Pa's Jerky - Original

Pa Pa's Jerky is a brand of Abner Snack Foods, Inc. based out of Bell City, MO. The company launched in the Summer of 2010.

It got started in 1997 by "Papa Abner" who received a dehydrator as a gift around the time he retired from work. After perfecting his recipe, and later on getting a smoker, word got out around the tiny town of Bell City (population 400), and folks started showing up at Papa's place to eat jerky.

Eventually his sons turned the hobby into a business, opening up an off-site facility and getting state inspection. As of this writing, Abner Snack Foods is working on federal inspection.

Ingredients

Beef, brown sugar, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, smoke flavor, spices.

Taste

The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a sweetented worcestershire sauce. There's a noticeable smokiness coming in, and light touches of the soy sauce.

The chewing brings in a more defined worcestershire along with a natural meat flavor.

The flavors that seem to define this jerky most of all is the worcestershire sauce with a significant sweetness. The smokiness has the next most impact, with the soy sauce having yet a small footprint towards the latter part of chewing. There's finally a light natural meat flavor.

I can pick up a little bit of tanginess, which I think comes from the worcestershire. I can also identify a touch of heat, but not enough to register above mild on my personal heat scale (level 1 out of 5).

The natural meat flavor also includes a little fat due to the marbleized beef used in this jerky, creating more of a real, beef experience.

The level of saltiness in this feel moderate.

Meat Consistency

These are slices of whole meat, sliced into thin slabs in medium to large sizes.

This is a dry jerky with a slightly moist surface feel. Tearing pieces apart seems easy to do, while chewing is also easy.

The chewing texture starts out feeling almost paper-like, but chews down into more of a meaty feel. Chewing is largely easy and quick, and by the time it chews down to a soft mass, it feels very much like eating real pieces of steak, cooked well done.

I can see small streaks of fat on these pieces, and in one particular piece I find some significant fat deposits. I didn't encounter any gristle or stringiness, and found nothing unchewable.

As for clean eating, it's largely clean. My fingers don't pick up much of any residue, and these pieces don't drop much of any seasoning or meat fragments.

Snack Value

Pa Pa's Jerky sells this Original variety from its website at a price of $24.00 for a 1 pound package. Shipping and taxes to Southern California costs $10.28. That brings everything to a cost of $2.14 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $2.14 per ounce price, it's a good value. I'm getting a good overall flavor, good meat consistency and chewing texture. Compared to other brands sold in stores, it's a little bit higher in price, but significantly better in flavor and consistency.

Rating

I'm giving this a good rating.

This Original beef jerky from Pa Pa's Jerky offers largely a well-sweetened worcestershire flavor. You do get a fair amount of smokiness in each piece, and touches of soy sauce and natural meat flavors.

If anything really stands out in this jerky is the thinly sliced pieces and the steak-like chewing texture. The thin slices makes this more easy to eat and seems to increase the snackability.

The seasonings and marinade are good, but considering its largely worcestershire, soy sauce, and sugar, it's nothing particularly out of the ordinary. The marbleized meat does, however, add a more real, beef character, which helps out the flavor.

Rating: Good

Buy this online:

• http://www.abnersnackfoods.com/