Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Jack Link's Turkey Jerky

Jack Link's Turkey JerkyJack Link's Turkey Jerky has been around for awhile, and among all the turkey jerky offerings on the market, it seems to enjoy to greatest commercial success.

This offering from Jack Link's is claimed to be made from real turkey breast, and then smoked over mesquite. It's lower in both fat and carbs compared to its beef brethren, but higher in sodium.

After opening the bag, I took a smell inside and it definitely does not smell like beef jerky, but then again it doesn't smell much like turkey either. I'm not sure what it smells like.

Overall, it's not bad. It's something I could certainly snack on, but not something I'd choose if I wanted to enjoy some jerky. Most of the pieces are on the soft side, and sliced thick. Some of the pieces tasted quite salty, while others had a mild saltiness.

Most of the pieces definitely appear to be cuts of real meat, but I did find a couple of pieces that I could not identify as being meat. They did have a "meaty" texture, but they might have been chunks of the greasier soft meat found on a turkey.

So, does it taste like turkey? Slightly. I'm trying as best as I can to find some similarity in taste to freshly roast turkey breast, and there is some. To me, this stuff tastes more like the darker thigh or leg meat. But again, the resemblance to turkey meat is slight. I'm not necessarily making that a swipe against Jack Link, it may just be the nature of dried turkey.

As far as the jerk spices go, what I taste mostly is salt. The ingredients list also includes paprika, brown sugar, and soy sauce. There certainly is a slight sweetness to it.

Product Value

I paid $5.99 for this 3.65oz bag of jerky. That works out to $1.64 per oz, which within the ballpark of average priced jerky, but on the upper end.

If you're just simply a turkey jerky lover, then perhaps this is a great value. But as a jerky lover in general, I'm not sure if it's worth buying. It definitely does have a snackability factor, but not much else. If you're a turkey meat lover, I don't think you could justify this as being a good value either.

In terms of jerk spices, Jack Link's Turkey Jerky doesn't offer much either beyond saltiness. It might offer more value if they could add another taste dimension like, "Honey Glazed Turkey Jerky", or "Sweet & Spicy Turkey Jerky".

On the other hand, it might be a good value as a diet snack. Being low in fat and carbs, you could snack on this without exceeding your nutritional intake goals. I think that's largely what this turkey jerky is about; it's trying to appeal to a more health-conscious meat snacker.

Jack Link's Turkey Jerky

Rating

This wins marks with me for its thick slices, and slighty soft, slightly moist consistency. The fact that I can taste a very slight resemblance to turkey meat wins points with me also. But it loses points because it doesn't offer me much satisfaction other than tasting salt. As a diet snack, I think it does offer some merit.

Rating: Average

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1 comment:

  1. My impression is that there is something "fowl" about this jerky. I can't tell what it is supposed to taste like. I agree that salt is the major flavor component. If this is supposed to be good as a diet snack, I'm not sure the salt content is that much of a help to a healthy 'diet'. Be that as it may, this goes under the category of "mystery meat" in my book. I bought two bags of this stuff...who wants the other one?

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