Divine Bovine - Turkey Jerky

Divine Bovine has a four flavors in its line of Turkey Jerky. Recently introduced into a new packaging design, this soft, moist variety of jerky free of preservatives with no MSG.

The company claims to have started in Southern Italy when a butcher named "Pops" discovered a great recipe and cut of meat for making beef jerky, who eventually handed it down to his grandson, who started the Divine Bovine brand.

This line of turkey jerky comes in Original, Spicy Jalapeno, Tangy Teriyaki, and Hot & Tangy Teriyaki flavors.

Ingredients

Original: Turkey breast, soy sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice, black pepper, granulated garlic

Spicy Jalapeno: Turkey breast, soy sauce, brown sugar, hot sauce, lemon juice, jalapeno powder, granulated garlic, black pepper

Tangy Teriyaki: Turkey breast, soy sauce, brown sugar, pineapple juice, granulated garlic, black pepper, ginger

Hot & Tangy Teriyaki: Turkey breast, soy sauce, brown sugar, pineapple juice, granulated garlic, crushed red peppers, black pepper, ginger

Review

Original: Light sweetness starts off immediately but soon gives way to a saltiness. The soy sauce comes in next and after a few more chews, the black pepper becomes noticeable. Finally, a hint of garlic can be detected. Overall it's a sweet and salty flavor with touches of soy sauce, black pepper, and garlic to make it interesting. Otherwise, it's a mild taste suitable for the more gentle palate.

Spicy Jalapeno: Much like the Original, but there's a distinct jalapeno flavor right away. It's also considerably more spicy in terms of heat, but not really that hot if you're a spicy food lover. (I'd rank this on my personal heat scale as "medium", level 3 out of 5). The saltiness feels a bit more strong than the Original, but otherwise is still in the moderate level. This is really much like the Original with just some jalapeno flavoring added.

Tangy Teriyaki: Has the same initial sweetness as the Original, but perhaps a touch less salt. There's even less noticeable seasoning than the Original. As far as the teriyaki flavor goes, it doesn't really taste like authentic Japanese teriyaki. It's rather bland. It's not even tangy as the name would suggest. It's like the Original, but just a touch less salt, and noticeably less seasonings.

Hot & Tangy Teriyaki: Basically the same as the Tangy Teriyaki, but with a lightly noticeable red pepper flavor. Again, it doesn't really taste like authentic Japanese teriyaki, it's really just a sweet jerky, maybe a bit of soy sauce flavor, and then the red pepper. There's some heat to this, and most people would consider this "hot", but for spicy food lovers like myself, it's medium (level 3 out of 5).

None of these four varieties offer any natural turkey meat flavors.

The meat consistency is soft and moist as the packaging claims. It's also rather sticky to touch. But otherwise, it chews rather easily, but feels quite gooey, like eating fruit rollups, not really like chewing real turkey breast meat. But it's all fat free, and free of any tendon, strings, or unchewable tissues.

Verdict: This line of turkey jerky from Divine Bovine offers a soft, moist meat consistency with an overall medium flavor intensity. It's all quite sweet, moderately salty, and lightly seasoned. I'd recommend the Original for most folks, with the Spicy Jalapeno for chile pepper fans. The Tangy Teriyaki is actually the most mild of the bunch, but was too bland for me. The Hot & Tangy Teriyaki is actually a bit more hot than the Spicy Jalapeno, but is not as flavorful.

Rating: Good (4/5)