Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Pacific Gold Beef Jerky - Teriyaki

Pacific Gold Beef Jerky - TeriyakiThe Pacific Gold brand of beef jerky is a brand owned by Oh Boy! Oberto, and appears to be their answer for folks who demand beef jerky made with natural ingredients and made with no preservatives.

While Pacific Gold appears to be free of preservatives, it's not really made with all natural ingredients. Rather, they bill it as "natural style". What exactly is "natural style"? It's really just jerky that appears to be real beef jerky. If you consider that Oh Boy! Oberto owns other brands of beef jerky made with "beef meal", or is "formed beef jerky", then it makes sense that beef jerky made with real cuts of meat, would be called, "natural style".

Consider that the actual Oh Boy! Oberto brand of beef jerky also carries the "Natural Style" labeling.

Pacific Gold beef jerky only comes in larger 8oz bags, instead of the standard 4oz bags.

Ingredients

Beef, brown sugar, soy sauce, corn syrup, water, dextrose, flavorings, salt, pineapple juice concentrate, natural smoke flavor, lactic acid starter culture.

Taste

Mostly what I taste is the soy sauce, and just a slight sweetness from the brown sugar. I can't really say that this tastes like teriyaki, however. It appears that Pacific Gold tried to emulate teriyaki by mixing soy sauce with sugar, except didn't put enough sugar in it.

Otherwise, what's left over is a saltiness and an "old meat" taste. In fact, the meat resembles more like Oh Boy! Oberto meat.

The meat itself offers some natural meat flavors, but like I said, more like old meat. I guess that's what you get when you don't add the preservatives. You know, most brands offering preservative-free jerky either load up on the flavorings, or they pack their jerky in vacuumed-sealed packages. Pacific Gold simply added one of those "oxygen absorption" packets. I'll bet this would taste better if they used vacuumed-sealed packages.

Overall, the taste of the meat is not that bad, it's actually ok. I'm just being a critic. The teriyaki taste is sorely lacking however, tasting more like soy sauce than actual teriyaki sauce.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be real cuts of meat, sliced average thickness in medium to large pieces. There are almost no crumbled pieces in the bottom of the bag.

The pieces are very easy to tear off and chew. I'd classify these as being dry, with a slight bit of moistness.

Pacific Gold says this jerky comes from top round steak. The pieces appear to be very lean. I don't find much at all in fat, tendon, or gristle.

Pacific Gold Beef Jerky - Teriyaki

Pacific Gold Beef Jerky - Teriyaki

Product Value

I paid $10.99 for this 8oz bag at a Shell Station in Temecula, CA. That works out to $1.37 per ounce, putting this in the average price range.

I'd say this teriyaki variety provides some good value, considering it's easy to eat, offers "OK" taste, and is free of sodium nitrite. But it doesn't really live up to its billing as a teriyaki variety. If you love teriyaki beef jerky, you may find yourself having wasted $10.99.

In terms of snackability, it's fair. My problem is that the taste is uninteresting. Having eaten about 3 ounces into this review, I'm already feeling uninspired to eat the remaining 5 ounces.

Rating

Pacific Gold Beef Jerky - TeriyakiI'm giving this an "average" rating.

I actually toyed with giving it a fair rating due to its mediocre taste, but because it's easy to eat, and is free of tendon and gristle, I'm stepping it up to "average". The fact that it's preservative-free is to be commended, but this brand just didn't do a good job of giving it some good taste. The Ju Ju Jerky and Alien Fresh Jerky brands both are preservative-free, and yet earned "best" ratings from me.

Pacific Gold has other varieties, Peppered, Hot & Spicy, and Barbecue. It may be that I'll find a favorite in those.

Rating: Average

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6 comments:

  1. I just got a bag of the original and I really like it. We have Jack Links just down the road but that is nothing compared to the pacific gold. The only problem is its not sold in our area that I am aware of. I live in superior, WI

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  2. If you buy this jerky at Costco, it's a pound (that's two 8oz packages taped back to back) for $12, which brings makes it a verrry good value there!

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  3. you gave this the same rating as Jack Link's Matador.

    Matador's Teriyaki and Smokin' BBQ is nothing compared to Pacific Gold Teriyaki.

    i love costco for selling 2 bags at once. I almost couldnt believe i had a 2nd bag of sweet goodness after finishing the 1st.

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  4. personally, i dont like pacific gold because it doesnt scream TERIYAKI (besides the label, of course,) What i mean is that the flavor doesn't resemble teriyaki. i prefer jack link's

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  5. As a American missionary in Kenya, there are not a lot of treats available so teriyaki jerky was put on my (small) Christmas wish list in the hopes that someone would bless me with one of my favorite treats.

    This was not the brand of jerky I'd asked for but who's complaining. :) Someone was kind enough to bless me with it so the brand was a mute point.

    Were I not a gracious receiver, however, I would be tempted to let the giver know how thoroughly disappointed I was in this product. Having waited a week to open the package, I just ate 2 ounces and what can I say except --

    'BOY! IS THIS STUFF EVER SALTY!!!'

    Unfortunately, there is very little sweetness but the saltiness is such that my tongue is (right now) literally burning from the rawness it produced.

    Having stated that, if you are someone who really enjoys teriyaki jerky, don't buy this product. It's not worth the money, the shipping costs, the anticipation or (in my experience) the eating.

    :'(

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  6. I have to say, I'ts really difficult where I live to find really tasty jerky, let alone a brand that is free from sulphites or nitrates, which I am allergic to and get a headache when I eat it, so this is a really great find.

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