Thursday, July 31, 2008

Hawaiian Warrior Beef Jerky - Sweet & Spicy

Hawaiian Warrior Beef Jerky - Sweet & SpicyHawaiian Warrior Beef Jerky is a brand that has been around since 1969 and has become widely recognized within the State of Hawaii. It's owned by Palama Holdings, LLC.

The Hawaiian Warrior brand had actually been owned by Palama Meat Company, a company that started out as local butcher in the 1950s, and began supplying meat to local schools. The school supply business grew quickly and catapulted the company into becoming the state's largest meat processor. It also launched a line of foods under the Mays Hawaii brand.

In 1997, the company's owner, Donald Lau, retired by selling Palama Meat Company to H&W Foods. In the years following, H&W Foods ran into financial diffiulty and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In 2004, a California-based investment company bought H&W Foods, and relaunched it as Palama Holdings, LLC.

While the Hawaiian Warrior Beef Jerky has been a local favorite, it hadn't really gained a following outside of Hawaii, and earned a stigma from tourists as being a bad-tasting jerky. The company recently redesigned the package into what you see now, and reformulated the recipes. The product is now being exported into the mainland and into asian food markets.

Ingredients

Beef, water sugar, salt, sodium citrate blend, monosodium glutamate, spices, garlic powder, natural flavor, not more than 2% silicon dioxide added to prevent caking.

Taste

The first taste I pick up with this is a slight sweetness, and a strange taste that I can't really describe. It's almost like an old meat taste, but I don't really know if that's what it is. It may be the chili-pepper seasoning (I can see chili-pepper seeds on this).

Being this is a Sweet & Spicy variety, it does offer a sweet & spicy taste, but in small amounts. This is not hot at all, but spicy enough to give me a slight burn in the back of my mouth. I'd rate this as mild-medium. But this is probably a little more sweet than it is spicy.

There is a taste of the natural meat flavors in this, but I have to chew this several times to find it. It makes itself more apparent just before swallowing.

In terms of saltiness, there is indeed some saltiness in this, but it's not too salty.

Overall, this has a decent taste, but it's a taste that's somewhat on the bland side. There isn't much here that excites me. I'm guessing that the large national brands like Oh Boy! Oberto and Jack Link's has infiltrated the islands and forced Hawaiian Warrior into the position of rebranding and reformulating itself, but this isn't going to cut it. Hawaiian Warrior might, however, find success in marketing itself to the asian markets, just based on the Hawaii theme.

Meat Consistency

These are cuts of real meat, sliced into thin to medium thickness, and in small to medium sized pieces.

This is a dry jerky, but still very flexible. It's on the chewy side, but not too difficult to tear apart and chew. I find it easier to let a piece soften up in my mouth before chewing.

Several pieces have small bits of fat, but otherwise I found no chewy tendon or gristle in this review sample.

Overall, the meat consistency is good for a dry jerky.

Hawaiian Warrior Beef Jerky - Sweet & Spicy

Hawaiian Warrior Beef Jerky - Sweet & Spicy

Product Value

I paid $6.29 for this 4oz package at a Marukai Market in San Diego, CA. That works out to $1.57 per ounce, putting this in the average price range.

I don't really find this to be a good value for general beef jerky purposes, it has a somewhat strange taste that I can't describe, and the taste overall is rather bland.

As a sweet & spicy variety, I'd say that "yes, it's technically sweet & spicy", but it's not very sweet & spicy. If I were to see a package of jerky advertised as such, I'd expect it to put a lot of emphasis on that aspect. In that sense, it's not worth the $6.29 I paid.

Rating

Hawaiian Warrior Beef Jerky - Sweet & SpicyI'm giving this a fair rating.

I am finding a snackability to this, but not a strong one, not enough to warrant the average rating that a stronger snackability would guarantee. It largely stumbles on its lackluster taste. It does have a taste, but not one grabs your tongue. It doesn't even a lot of natural meat flavors.

And there is also that strange taste that I described above, I don't know if that's from the chemicals, or maybe an old meat taste, or something about the seasonings or what.

Finally, I see this as failing in representing itself as a sweet & spicy variety.

The Hawaiian Warrior brand of jerky would probably do well to focus on bringing out the native Hawaiian flavors, instead of carrying the mainstay flavors of teriyaki, peppered, and sweet & spicy. I think when people see a beef jerky that claims to be "Made in Hawaii", they expect something exotic, and not something they already find everywhere else.

How about "Pineapple Teriyaki", or "Coconut Honey"?

Rating: Fair

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Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Trader Joe's Beef Jerky - Teriyaki

Trader Joe's Beef Jerky - TeriyakiTrader Joe's is a chain of grocery stores that focuses on mixing together the basic foods with ecclectic and exotic foods. A lot of their wares is selected for natural ingredients, though it's not a natural foods store. They managed to make a name for themselves in the 1960's and early 1970's by going after the hippie demographic. Today a lot of hippies still shop there, except they're more wealthier and wear more conservative clothing these days.

The company's own line of beef jerky is billed as "Natural" beef jerky, though not necessarily organic. It's private labeled through Intermountain Naturals, LLC of Idaho Falls, ID. That's the same processor that makes jerky for the Golden Valley Natural, and Jerky Direct brands.

And in keeping with Trader Joe's tradition of keeping prices down, this jerky is priced in the lower echelon as well.

Ingredients

Beef, sugar, water, soy sauce, pineapple juice concentrate, apple cider vinegar, salt, flavorings, paprika, natural smoke flavoring.

Taste

It's hard to say what the first taste that is that I taste with this, but I can sense a bit of sweetness, and a very faint sense of teriyaki. I can "kinda" taste the natural meat flavors after several chews. I can also pick up some smokiness.

I'm not sure what it is with jerky made by Intermountain Naturals, but so far everything I've had from them, either as Trader Joe's, or as Golden Valley Natural, is tasteless. I don't think that's a reflection of using all natural ingredients, or being organic, because I've had similar jerky from other brands that had much more taste.

Or maybe the folks in Idaho have ultra-keen taste buds, I don't know.

I'd say the taste that dominates this jerky is a mild teriyaki flavor; it's not strong, but just there in the background.

It's not even salty.

While I can't really pick up much of the natural meat flavors, there is a faint bit of it. At least the beef doesn't have an old taste, being this is preservative free.

Meat Consistency

These are cuts of real meat, sliced average to thick thickness, and in small to medium sized pieces.

This is probably best classified as a semi-moist variety, though some pieces are more dry than moist. It's very soft and tender; I find it easy to tear apart and chew. That's perfect for all those hippies having lost their teeth.

Some of the pieces have some good fat marbilization, but otherwise I didn't find any chewy tendon or gristle.

I notice that one piece has this "black splotch", see the second photo below. I scraped as much of it as I could off of there.

Overall, this is has an excellent meat consistency.

Trader Joe's Beef Jerky - Teriyaki

Trader Joe's Beef Jerky - Teriyaki
Product Value

I paid $4.99 for this 4oz package at a Trader Joe's in Temecula, CA. That works out to $1.25 per ounce, putting this at the lower end of average.

I'd say this has a weak value, being largely tasteless, and thereby not really providing much snacking satisfaction. While it has a great meat consistency for folks who prefer soft and tender jerky, there really isn't much else to enjoy with this.

As for being a teriyaki variety, again it's very weak. In fact, I'm going to pull out my bottle of teriyaki sauce from the fridge and add some more.

Rating

I'm giving this a fair rating.

All this has going for itself is the great meat consistency, and that was good enough to get it a "fair" rating. You might also include the fact that it's made with all natural ingredients. For all I know, this could be an organic beef jerky, though it doesn't say it.

But where's the taste?

Considering that Trader Joe's prides itself on offering low prices, maybe they paid Intermountain Naturals to use a lot less seasonings.

It's like drinking a bottle of Coors beer, and finding that it isn't much different than carbonated water. And that's too bad, because for a jerky that prides itself on being "natural", I'd figure I could get some great beef taste. But I can't even get that.

Rating: Fair

Where to buy?:
  • At any Trader Joe's store

Monday, July 28, 2008

Buffalo Bills Venison Jerky

Buffalo Bills Venison JerkyBuffalo Bills is a brand of jerky that has been around since 1990, having first launched with its Hickory Smoked Beef Jerky. It's owned by Choo Choo R Snacks, Inc., based out of Lebanon, PA.

This venison jerky is the company's only non-beef jerky. It's actually a chopped & formed product, as opposed to a "whole muscle" variety. Chopped & formed is a cheaper way to produce jerky, and is something you still see with most exotic meat jerky.

One of the reasons why is because the USDA requires a processing plant to have an "exotic seal" if a product is made with 100% exotic meat. Therefore, manufacturers mix their venison meat with about 10-20% beef to escape that additional requirement. And the only way to mix in beef, is to grind it up.

Interestingly, this Buffalo Bills brand of venison jerky was the first chopped & formed jerky to use 100% venison (no beef fillers).

But I'm also guessing that companies make chopped & formed jerky because it allows them to use smaller pieces of meat, or scrap meat. However, whole muscle venison jerky often comes out as being tough, so there's also an advantage to making it chopped & formed.

Ingredients

Venison, soy sauce, seasonings (dextrose, salt, corn syrup solids, onion & garlic, hydrolized soy protein, monosodium glutamate, spices, smoked flavor), spices.

Taste

I'd say the first taste that presents itself is a saltiness, which transforms itself into the soy sauce taste. I can also get a good deal of smokiness. There's also a fatty taste that comes through, something that is physically evident from the greasiness of these strips. Finally, the natural meat flavors become evident.

And as for the natural meat flavor, does this actually taste like venison? Well, yes but read on. Venison should have a sweeter taste than beef mainly due to deer muscle having a higher concentration of blood. I'd say that I can vaguely sense a sweetness in the meat. And because of that higher concentration of blood, the meat should feel more smooth, similar to a blending of liver and meat. But I can't really sense that in this jerky, mainly because it's chopped.

On the other hand, there is indeed a venison-like taste to this overall. I find I can get the most venison taste from this by biting off a piece, and letting it soften up in my mouth for about 30 seconds, and then chewing. This moistens up the piece, and allows the flavors to leach out.

The saltiness in this is well pronounced. For the most part, it's what I taste. The salt does subside as I continue chewing, but since this is a chopped jerky, I don't need to chew for very long.

I can also sense a faint bit of black pepper and garlic.

Overall, this jerky has a decent taste. It's mostly salt and some soy sauce that I taste the most. The unique taste of venison is noticeable, though because it's chopped & formed, I don't really sense any of its unique smoothness.

Meat Consistency

This is a chopped & formed jerky, pressed into strips of about 7 inches in length.

It's a semi-moist jerky, and somewhat oily. It's moderately easy to bite off a piece, and easy to chew.

Here and there I can feel tiny pieces of hard stuff, bone perhaps. Some of it was crunchy, more like cartilage. It's small enough that I can swallow them. I pulled one out of my mouth and looked at it, and it had pieces of tendon attached.

I assume the oiliness is due to fat being mixed into this chopping and grinding process. I can certainly taste the fat, and can feel its coating inside my mouth.

Overall, it's easy to eat. The tiny bits of hard stuff (bone) is not unusual with chopped & formed jerky. But it illustrates the quality (or low quality) of meat used in this.

Buffalo Bills Venison Jerky

Buffalo Bills Venison Jerky

Product Value

Choo Choo R Snacks sells this jerky at a price of $16.99 for a 10oz package. That works out to $1.70 per ounce, making this an average priced jerky.

For venison jerky, $1.70 per ounce is cheap. In that sense it's a great buy. But considering you're not getting whole muscle, the price is actually on the high end for chopped & formed jerky.

But let's consider that the only reason why you'd buy venison jerky is because you want to enjoy the unique taste of venison. In that sense, I find this to be a "so-so" value at best. While I can taste the unique venison taste, the chopped & formed nature doesn't really let me enjoy all the qualities of venison. It's mostly a salty meat taste.

However, this still has a snackability to it, and therefore still offers something for your snacking dollar.

Rating

Buffalo Bills Venison JerkyI'm giving this an average rating.

This chopped & formed jerky from Buffalo Bills offers a taste of venison with a great snackability that's does well to keep your mouth working while you're watching a movie, typing away, or gazing at stars by a campfire.

But it didn't get a higher rating because I didn't find this to present enough of venison's unique qualities. That is, the only reason why someone would buy venison jerky is to taste everything that makes it different from beef. While it does offer a venison taste, I just didn't feel it went all the way. I didn't really get any of that sweeter taste, and because it was chopped, I couldn't sense its smoother texture.

I think part of the problem is the saltiness; it could be overshadowing the venison flavors.

Also, it's hard for me to know how much of this is muscle, and how much is tendon, gristle, bone, fat, and whatever else. There does seem to be quite a bit of fat in this, and that might also compete against the meat flavors.

And the tiny bits of "hard stuff", such as bone, and crunchy cartilage, I found to be a turn off. I know that's common with chopped & formed jerky, but as such, puts this right in the ballpark with average.

Still, I find myself wanting to reach for another piece, which I feel is an important aspect of snack foods, which jerky is. And snackability is largely what this jerky offers.

Rating: Average

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Sunday, July 27, 2008

Buffalo Bills Country Cut - Mild

Buffalo Bills Country Cut - MildBuffalo Bills Beef Jerky is a brand that's been around since 1990, produced by a company called Choo Choo R Snacks, Inc, of Lebanon, PA. The company was established by five independent snack food distributors.

Their "Country Cut" line of beef jerky represents the brand's answer to the soft and tender jerky that the industry has been pushing towards women and elderly consumers. In addition to this Mild variety, it also includes a Spicy variety, as well as Teriyaki, Barbecue, and Honey Pepper.

The company also makes a "Western Cut" variety under the same brand, representing the more traditional dry and thin cut jerky. They also make meat sticks and candies.

Ingredients

Beef, salt, sugar, monosodium glutamate, paprika, spices, garlic, sodium nitrite.

Taste

There's a strong smoky flavor that comes out right away in this, even though the package doesn't state liquid smoke. I can sense some sweetness, a good amount of saltiness, the garlic, and the natural meat flavors.

While this variety is advertised as "mild", it's certainly packed with flavor. I'd say a lot of that taste is salt. The saltiness isn't that bad after eating the first couple of ounces, but later into the package it wears on me. There seems to be plenty of other flavors in this that my attention is evenly divided by them all, but over time, the saltiness dominates.

That sweetness I described is not strong, but just enough to make itself known, mostly upon first putting a piece into my mouth.

I can see tiny specks of black on these pieces, which looks to be black pepper. These pieces do give off a peppery aftertaste that builds up over several pieces.

The natural meat flavors is something I notice after all the flavors have made their exit. I mostly have to chew a piece, and extract out the juices to find it. It's not a strong meat flavor, but enough to make itself known.

This variety also has that same barbecue aroma and taste that the Spicy and Honey & Pepper varieties have. I think the garlic and slight sweetness helps establish this flavor.

Overall, this is a very tasty jerky. It actually tastes very much like the Spicy variety, just a lot less spicy. The taste that seems to last throughout the chew is the saltiness and the garlic.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be cuts of real meat, sliced into medium and thick thickness, and in small to medium sized pieces.

This is a semi-moist variety. For the most part its very easy to tear apart and chew. I did find some pieces that were just "easy" as opposed to "very easy". Overall, this jerky offers no resistance to veteran meat snackers.

I did find small bits of chewy tendon or membrane of some type, but nothing out of the ordinary, and no gristle at all. Some pieces did have bits of fat.

Overall, the meat consistency in this review sample is very good, offering no distraction to my snacking enjoyment.

Buffalo Bills Country Cut - Mild

Buffalo Bills Country Cut - Mild
Product Value

Choo Choo R Snacks sells this Country Cut Mild variety from its website at a price of $5.49 for a 3.5oz package. That works out to $1.57 per oz, putting this into the average price range.

I'd consider this a pretty good buy. For general jerky snacking purposes, it's very flavorful, easy to eat, and is quite snackable.

As a mild variety, it's strong on flavor, but not hot at all. I think "mild" is a good way to put this. People who can't stand spicy foods might actually see this as having a spicy kick, however. There is indeed a faint spiciness that lingers in my mouth, but offering no burn.

Rating

Buffalo Bills Country Cut - MildI'm giving this a good rating.

While this variety advertises itself as "Mild", it's actually packed with flavor; it's just not going to burn your tongue. It has a complexity of flavors between the sweetness, saltiness, smokiness, garlic, black pepper, and natural meat flavors that lasts throughout the chew, all in an easy to eat jerky.

But while it's flavorful, it's still the saltiness that eventually takes center stage after having eaten several pieces. I keep finding myself taking a swig of water in between pieces.

But the complexity of tastes and the easy-to-eat consistency, still makes this very snackable and hard to resist. You'll just want to keep a bottle of water handy to relieve that saltiness.

Rating: Good

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Saturday, July 26, 2008

Trader Joe's Beef Jerky - Original

Trader Joe's is a chain of grocery stores spread across the United States specializing in gourmet, natural, and hard-to-find foods. They started out in 1958 as a chain of convenience stores. Then in the 1960's, as the beatnik and hippie cultures started taking off, the company redefined itself into what you see now.

And like many other retailers, Trader Joe's offers its own brand of beef jerky. However as suspected, they don't make their own. In this case, it's private labeled through Idaho-based Intermountain Naturals, the sister company to the Golden Valley Natural brand of beef jerky.

Intermountain Naturals caters to the health-conscious consumer, making beef jerky using only natural ingredients, as well as a line of organic beef jerky.

Trader Joe's claims their brand of jerky contains no preservatives, no MSG, no artificial ingredients, is minimally processed (I'm not sure what that means), and the beef contains no added hormones and no antibiotics.

Ingredients

Beef, sugar, water, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, salt, flavorings, paprika, natural smoke flavoring.

Taste

Some sweetness is the first taste to hit my tongue, followed by some smokiness. I can sense the soy sauce flavoring to a small degree, along with a slight bit of salt, and finally just a hint of natural meat flavors.

Being that this is their original variety, I didn't expect to get a lot of taste, and sure enough I wasn't disappointed. Throughout the chew, the flavor that seems to last is the sugar, and then followed by a slight saltiness. That soy sauce taste doesn't really last long.

There's almost no taste of the natural meat flavors. If I was blindfolded and asked to decide between beef or turkey, it would be difficult. There's just a slight bit of that unique beef flavor. And as far as freshness, it still seems to have a fresh taste, despite containing no preservatives.

As for saltiness, it's not salty. I can taste it, but it's light. This is about my preference level for beef jerky.

I can see a few flecks of black pepper, but there's no taste of it.

Overall, this jerky is largely tasteless, if not for the sugar, a bit of smokiness, and light saltiness. I suppose it fits the bill as an original variety, but it's rather boring.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be real cuts of meat, sliced into average to thick thickness, and in medium sized pieces.

This qualifies as a "soft and tender" variety, being very easy to tear apart, and very easy chew. It even gets mushy when chewing, but not that bad. But I would not classify this as semi-moist, it's still largely a dry jerky.

I didn't notice any chewy tendon, membrane, or gristle. I did find small amounts of fat on a couple of pieces which actually gave it a more beefy taste.

Overall, this has a great meat consistency as a soft and tender variety.

Trader Joe's Beef Jerky - Original

Trader Joe's Beef Jerky - Original
Product Value

I paid $4.99 for this 4oz bag at a Trader Joe's in Temecula, CA. That works out to a price of $1.25 per oz, putting this on the lower-end of average.

On a general beef jerky standpoint, I think you're getting a so-so value. It doesn't really satisfy on taste, but it does offer a great meat consistency. If you're a casual beef jerky eater, you might think it's good.

For folks who insist on eating only all natural ingredients, this is actually a good value, because for one, a $1.25 per oz is a good price when compared to all other beef jerky brands, and you're getting what you want in an all-natural ingredient product. If having a tasty beef jerky is not important to you, it's an even better value.

Rating

I'm giving this a fair rating.

About the only thing going for this jerky is it's great meat consistency. Otherwise, it's pretty dull on flavor, and it offers very little natural meat flavor.

I can understand that an original variety of beef jerky would be plain on taste, but there are so many other brands that have tasty original varieties that I can't warrant a higher rating. I can't really say that this has a snack factor either; while I continue to eat more throughout this review, I'm not enthusiastic about eating it.

But let's consider that Trader Joe's is pushing this beef jerky for its health benefits as an all-natural ingredient product. And that's a way of saying that healthy foods don't necessarily taste good, which is something the child in all of us has been saying for our entire lives.

Rating: Fair

Where to buy:
  • At any Trader Joe's store

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Buffalo Bills Western Cut - Original

Buffalo Bills Western Cut - OriginalBuffalo Bills Beef Jerky is a brand produced by Choo Choo R Snacks, Inc. of Lebanon, PA. The company, which was started by five independent snack food distributors, has been producing beef jerky since 1990, starting with their Premium Hickory Smoked Beef Jerky.

Since then, the company has gone on to produce several new lines of jerky, including the Western Cut, which represents the dry, thin sliced jerky, and the Country Cut, which represents a soft and tender variety. They also make meat sticks and candies.

As of late, the company has seen a growth in its business, having been named by Inc. Magazine as among the top 5,000 fastest growing companies in the United States.

Choo Choo R Snacks, Inc. prides itself as using only American-made ingredients, including USA-born and bred cattle.

Ingredients

Beef, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, water, garlic powder, black pepper, onion powder, liquid smoke, sodium nitrite.

Note that this ingredients list is exactly the same as other varieties in the Western Cut line, including Teriyaki, Black Pepper, and Sweet & Spicy.

Taste

The first taste that I detect upon putting a piece into my mouth is a sweetness that quickly develops into a teriyaki taste. The taste of black pepper comes through immediately following, and then with some chews I can taste the natural meat flavors. I also detect a very slight "hotness" probably from the black pepper.

I'll note that several pieces have a good layering of black pepper, while other pieces have less, and others yet have none. The first piece that I described above came from a piece with a medium layering of pepper.

The next piece I tried was one without pepper, and again it was the sweet teriyaki taste that I got right away. No peppery flavor, but just the natural meat flavors.

The teriyaki taste is not a strong one, but enough to distinguish as teriyaki. Note that the company's Teriyaki variety I reviewed over a week ago actually tastes less like real teriyaki, while this Original variety I'm reviewing now has a better teriyaki taste. I'm sure this Western Cut line of jerky is all made using the same teriyaki sauce, but for whatever reasons, that teriyaki doesn't always come out tasting the same.

As for saltiness, it doesn't necessarily come out tasting too salty. However, the nutrition label does show 600mg of salt per 1oz serving, which is a high amount. I think the sweetness of the teriyaki and brown sugar do well to offset the saltiness.

There is also a definite smokiness to this jerky also. And that smokiness does a good job of enhancing the natural meat flavors, which are well noticed in this sample.

Overall, this jerky has a great taste. As an original variety, which are similar to being a "plain" jerky, this is hardly plain. It can be better described as a teriyaki jerky, or as a black peppered jerky, or a combination of both. Most jerky eaters would welcome this, but those who don't like sweet jerky, or peppered, might not.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be cuts of real meat, sliced thin, and in small to medium sized pieces.

This is a dry jerky, one that retains a lot of flexibility. I find this somewhat tough, but not terribly. It takes some effort to tear a piece apart, and some effort to chew. But haven eaten several brands of jerky, I've had far worse. For being a dry, thin cut, jerky, this isn't all that tough.

Some pieces have small amounts of tendon, or maybe chewy membrane, that stays behind after you've chewed for awhile. I also found some very small bits of gristle, but didn't really distract too much from my enjoyment. One particular piece (see photos below), had lots of fat around it. In fact, if you look closely at the photos, you'll see a patch of white stuff. It didn't taste or have a consistency that I could recognize. If I'm still alive tomorrow then you won't have anything to worry about.

Overall, this jerky has a good meat consistency. While chewy, and requiring some effort to eat, I don't actually find this to be "tough". I think this is consistency with what a western style of jerky should be. While it does have some chewy tendon, and bits of gristle, it wasn't enough to subtract from my overall enjoyment.

Buffalo Bills Western Cut - Original

Buffalo Bills Western Cut - Original

Buffalo Bills Western Cut - Original

Product Value

Choo Choo R Snacks, Inc. sells this jerky from their website at a price of $3.29 for a 1.75oz bag. That works out to $1.88 per oz, putting this into the average price range. You can get this for $1.57 per oz if you buy their larger 3.5oz bag.

Is it worth your money to buy this? Well, as an Original variety, it's hard to classify this as truly fitting the classic "original" moniker. This is more like a light teriyaki variety, or a light black peppered variety. If you tend to purchase mostly original varieties of jerky, you might be disappointed by the sweetness and the peppery flavors.

But if you're like me, you love all kinds of jerky and you welcome something that mixes together several flavors.

Otherwise, I'd say this offers a great value considering its average price. You're getting lots of flavor, in a jerky that offers some ease in eating. Moreover, I find it very snackable. If you're looking for something to chew on while watching a movie, writing your college thesis, this is a great buy.

Rating

Buffalo Bills Western Cut - OriginalI'm giving this a best rating.

This Western Cut Original variety from Buffalo Bills offers a great taste with its sweet teriyaki basting and black pepper coating, combined with a smoky natural meat flavor, that will leave you reaching for more.

However, it's tough to distinguish this variety from the company's Western Cut Black Pepper variety. Both varieties seem to have the same amounts of black pepper, and both have the same teriyaki sweetness. My guess is that the black pepper variety would have a little bit more pepper. Yet, the samples I reviewed seemed like they had the same. I'm not really sure there is a difference.

For that matter, I was tempted to give this Original variety a lower rating, just for the fact that it didn't really live up to its advertisement as an original variety. However, I'm not really certain that there is any definition of what constitutes an original variety. I can't say that it's simply an absence of any other flavoring, even though most other brands make their original varieties that way.

So, I'm giving Buffalo Bills the benefit of the doubt in this case, and gave it the same rating as its Black Pepper variety: Best.

Rating: Best

Buy this online:

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Buffalo Bills Country Cut - Spicy

Buffalo Bills Country Cut - SpicyBuffalo Bills is a brand of beef jerky made by Choo Choo R Snacks, Inc., based out of Lebanon, PA. The company has been in business since 1990, and makes a full slate of meat snacks and candies.

In 2007, the company was named by Inc. Magazine as being one of the top 5,000 fastest growing companies in the USA. Considering that all of their jerky varieties have rated either "best" or "good" on this blog is perhaps a good reason why.

The Country Cut line represents the company's "soft and tender" variety, which has grown to become a popular way for women and elderly consumers to enjoy jerky, particularly since the low-carb dieting craze took off.

The Choo Choo R Snacks Inc. also makes a Western Cut line of thin-cut, dry jerky, and a premium line, along with meat sticks, and candies.

Ingredients

Beef, salt, sugar, monosodium glutamate, paprika, spices, garlic, sodium nitrite.

Taste

There is a sweetness evident upon putting the first piece into my mouth, followed by a taste that's similar to BBQ sauce. The saltiness comes along after that, followed by the spiciness, and ending with the natural meat flavors.

The sweetness I described is subtle. It's probably only noticeable immediately putting in a piece.

The BBQ sauce taste is something I noticed on this brand's Honey Pepper variety also.

There is also a noticeable garlic taste in this, which I think contributes to the BBQ sauce quality that I described above.

This is definitely a salty jerky. The other flavors in this do a pretty good job of taking your attention away from the saltiness, but over the course of eating several pieces, my tongue lets me know that it needs a soothing splash of drink.

As for this being a spicy jerky? Well, technically it is spicy in that I can feel a hotness on the back of my throat and tongue, but this isn't hot by any means. I'd rate this as "mild medium", while lesser experienced tongues might see this as "medium". It's probably correct that this variety is labeled as "spicy" as opposed to "hot".

I can also see several tiny flecks of black in these suggesting black pepper, even though I don't particularly taste black pepper. The black pepper is likely what contributes to the overall spiciness.

I can also see some chile pepper pieces and seeds on these pieces. I can taste the unique flavor of chile pepper in small amounts, but it's mostly the mild-to-medium burn that I notice the most.

Interestingly, Chile Pepper Magazine rated this Spicy variety from Buffalo Bills as being among the top 10 most spiciest jerkies in the United States. Again, perhaps they're making a distinction between "spicy" and "hot". But either way, I think the folks at Chile Pepper Magazine were working with a small sample of brands. I've had many other brands and varieties spicier than this, and hotter than this.

The natural meat flavors in this is something I notice after chewing and extracting out the juices, mostly due to the other flavors dominating this jerky.

Overall this jerky offers a lot of flavors to enjoy, with that BBQ-like taste, garlic, salt, natural meat flavors, a bit of that chile pepper taste, and slight burning sensation in my mouth.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be real cuts of meat, sliced thick, and in small to medium sized pieces.

This is a semi-moist variety. The pieces tear apart easily, and they chew easily. As a soft and tender variety, I found that this does live up to that description for the most part. I did find a couple pieces that were not as soft and tender as the rest.

I didn't find any bits of tendon or gristle, and only a scant showing of fat on some pieces.

These pieces also leave a layer of oil on my fingers, requiring some wiping or finger licking.

Overall, this variety has a great meat consistency, being easy to tear apart and chew, and offering nothing in the way of tendon or gristle.

Buffalo Bills Country Cut - Spicy

Buffalo Bills Country Cut - Spicy
Product Value

Choo Choo R Snacks sells this Country Cut Spicy variety from its website at a price of $5.49 for a 3.5oz package. That works out to $1.57 per oz, putting this into the average price range.

I'd see this as a great value. For being average priced, it offers a lot of taste and flavor that lasts throughout the chew, in an easy to eat meat consistency. For snacking purposes, this is a great snack for your money.

As a "spicy" variety, I think it definitely is spicy, in technical terms. I just wouldn't rate this as hot. If you're someone who loves spicy jerky, I think you'll love the taste, but you might feel short-changed on the hotness.

Rating

Buffalo Bills Country Cut - SpicyI'm giving this a "good" rating.

This Country Cut Spicy variety from Buffalo Bills has a great taste combination of natural meat flavors, garlic, salt, the spicy kick of chile pepper, and a taste that almost resembles BBQ. And being a soft and tender variety, it's very easy to eat. That's make this very snackable.

But I find this as being too salty. It actually has less sodium than the brand's Honey Pepper variety I reviewed earlier, which I assigned a best rating to, but for whatever reasons, the saltiness is much more noticeable in this Spicy variety.

I'd also prefer to see more chile pepper seasoning in this. When I see a beef jerky advertised as "spicy", I tend to assume that it's hot.

Otherwise, this jerky still has a great taste, and a meat consistency that lets me enjoy the flavors without distraction. I could eat more of this.

Rating: Good

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Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Buffalo Bills Western Cut - Black Pepper

Buffalo Bills Western Cut - Black PepperBuffalo Bills Beef Jerky is a brand that focuses on using 100% all American-made ingredients, including USA-born and bred cattle. It's produced by Lebanon, PA-based Choo Choo R Snacks, Inc.

Having been in the business since 1990, the company makes a wide range of meat snacks, and several lines of beef jerky. This "Western Cut" line represents the thin cut and dry jerky, while their Country Cut represents the soft and tender line. They also have a premium line.

Black peppered beef jerky is one of my favorite varieties, and a favorite for many people as well. It has a taste that compliments beef better than any other seasoning, adding a great contrast to beef's mild flavor.

Ingredients

Beef, teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, water, garlic powder, black pepper, onion powder, liquid smoke, sodium nitrite.

Taste

Sweet is the first taste I detect upon placing a piece into my mouth. Then I taste the smokiness. Upon chewing a bit, the natural meat flavors make themselves known, and lastly both the teriyaki sauce and the black pepper start showing through.

Note that I started with a piece that had a moderate amount of black pepper. As you can see in the photos below, some pieces are heavily peppered, others moderately, and some very little pepper.

I tried that heavily peppered piece you see in the middle, and the taste of black pepper hits me right away. That sweetness comes in soon after, but on this piece the abundance of pepper overwhelms every other taste.

So as a black pepper variety, what you're getting are pieces in varying degrees of pepperness. I don't necessarily see this as an issue, though I can understand others might taking exception. If you really love black peppered jerky like I do, you'll actually appreciate the variety.

The sweetness I described is not an overwhelming sweetness. The teriyaki sauce listed in the ingredients does taste like teriyaki sauce, as opposed to soy sauce. But it too is not overpowering.

The natural meat flavors in this are easily distinguished and provide plenty of satisfaction for meat snackers. The smoky flavor also comes out well.

Overall, this is a very tasty variety of black peppered jerky from Buffalo Bills. Not only does it offer a great meat taste, but it offers a flavor contrast between the black pepper and sweet teriyaki. The moderate to heavy peppered pieces have black pepper as a dominant flavor, while the lesser peppered pieces are more like a light teriyaki variety with a black pepper background.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be slices of real meat, sliced thin, and in small to medium sized pieces.

Being a dry, thin cut jerky, these pieces still retain a lot of flexibility. For the most part, I find them easy to tear apart and chew. I found one twisted and gnarled piece that was very tough. After softening that piece in my mouth, it was piece of gristle, tendon and meat all fused together.

As for gristle, I found another piece with a good-sized streak of it. Fat-wise, some pieces had some small streaks, and others have some good marbilization.

Overall, the meat consistency is good. The one meat piece with gristle, and the other meat-tendon-gristle chunk is something to make note of. However, the rest of the pieces offered a good beef jerky experience.

I've found that Buffalo Bills' Western Cut line tends to have a fair amount of gristle, though some packages might not have any, and others might have plenty. It's a hit or miss issue. However, since I've been reviewing the brand's 1.75oz packages, it's likely these smaller sizes have less gristle per package. The larger 3.5oz bag could have more gristle simply because there are more pieces.

Buffalo Bills Western Cut - Black Pepper

Buffalo Bills Western Cut - Black Pepper

Product Value

Choo Choo R Snacks, Inc. sells this jerky from their website at a price of $3.29 for a 1.75oz bag. That works out to $1.88 per oz, putting this into the average price range. You can get this for $1.57 per oz if you buy their larger 3.5oz bag.

I think this variety will give you a great value, in that offers a great taste, and mostly easy-to-eat pieces. It stands up pretty well as a black peppered variety, giving you pretty much what you're bargaining for.

Rating

Buffalo Bills Western Cut - Black PepperI'm giving this a "best" rating.

This black peppered Western Cut variety from Buffalo Bills offers plenty of spicy black pepper taste contrasted by a sweet, yet light, teriyaki basting. The natural meat flavors are well preserved in this and are complimented by a good meat consistency.

And while I said it has a good meat consistency, it appears to be a hit or miss issue. One bag of this stuff may be totally free of gristle and tendon, while another bag might have a lot of it. This "best" rating is based on this particular package. Others with more gristle will get lower ratings.

Overall, it has a great snackability. I found it difficult to resist eating more and more.

Rating: Best

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Saturday, July 19, 2008

Old West Beef Jerky - Western Style

Old West Beef Jerky - Western StyleOld West is a brand of beef jerky manufactured by Peoples Sausage Company, based in Los Angeles, CA. Peoples Sausage has been in business since 1929, making sausage, bologna, hot dogs, and beef jerky. It's a 3rd generation family-run business, now run by the grandson.

In addition to this "Old West" brand, the company also produces another brand called, "People's Choice", which is apparently their flagship beef jerky brand.

The company also makes another line of beef jerky they describe as the "really, really old style" beef jerky that distribute to specialty stores and mexicantessens, featuring ethnic flavors not normally seen in traditional beef jerky.

This particular package of Old West doesn't advertise a particular flavor variety, aside from "Western Style".

Ingredients

Beef, soy sauce, sugar, worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, sodium nitrite.

Taste

When I take a bite out of a piece, a slight sweetness is what I taste on the surface of these pieces, followed by a soy sauce taste. Upon chewing, the natural meat flavors come out. A black pepper taste comes later, and eventually dominates the aftertaste.

I'd say the flavor that sits at the forefront of this jerky is the soy sauce and its saltiness. The black pepper is well defined in this also. The soy sauce flavors lasts through the chew, but then the natural meat flavors come on a lot stronger by that time.

This is a salty jerky. Even though the nutrition label shows something of a moderate amount of sodium, it's well defined in this variety because it's largely the soy sauce that dominates the flavor.

Overall, this jerky has a good taste, mostly as soy sauce and black pepper, which is an all-too-familiar combination, along with a good natural meat flavor. The saltiness makes it somewhat of a challenge for me, since I don't really care much for strong salty taste in jerky.

Meat Consistency

These pieces appear to be cut from real slices of meat, sliced thin to medium thickness, and in medium sized pieces.

This is a dry jerky, with almost no flexibility if bent with the grain, or against. I found it easy to tear apart if I tear it along with the grain. Against the grain, it's very difficult. It's moderately easy to eat.

I found some streaks of gristle in most of these pieces, but they were thin enough and dry enough that they broke apart and chewed without much notice. However, one piece had a thicker piece of gristle that did offer a jaw exercise, but still chewed ok. Otherwise, no chewy tendon, and no fat, except for one piece that had some good marbilization.

Overall, the meat consistency is ok. I like dry jerky, but this is so dry that pieces of it break off and fall into my lap as I tear a piece off. If it didn't crumble like this, I'd overlook it. There's also a good amount of gristle in this, though most of it was chewable and didn't present too much of a problem.

Old West Beef Jerky - Western Style

Old West Beef Jerky - Western Style
Product Value

I paid $2.99 for this 1.8oz package at Pine Mountain General Store in Pine Mountain Club, CA. That works out to $1.66 per oz, making this an average priced jerky. If the company offers a larger package, I'm guessing it'll be priced cheaper per oz.

For an average priced jerky, this appears to be an average value. If you like the dry, thin cut jerky, this may give you what you're looking for. While it has a good taste, it's not a taste that's going to win you over as a favorite. It's kinda salty, actually.

For its natural meat flavor, it's a good buy. As a peppered variety, it's also a good buy.

As a "Western Style" jerky, which the package advertises, I'm guessing that it fits the bill. I suppose something like "western style" is open to interpretation. My guess is that it's something dry, thin cut, and largely salty as its dominant flavor. That's what this is. For that matter, it's a good buy.

Rating

Old West Beef Jerky - Western StyleI'm giving this an average rating.

While it's flavorful, it's largely a soy sauce variety that I found to be too salty for my preference. I do enjoy black peppered jerky, and this jerky is also that. It also retains plenty of its natural meat flavors. And it's still relatively easy to eat. All that makes this snackable, and deserving of an average rating.

Aside from offering some good natural meat flavors, I couldn't find anything else that stood out enough to warrant a higher rating.

Rating: Average

Where to buy:
  • In stores across California, and western states

Friday, July 18, 2008

Buffalo Bills Beef Jerky - Premium Hickory

Buffalo Bills Beef Jerky - Premium HickoryBuffalo Bills is a brand of beef jerky made by Choo Choo R Snacks, Inc. out of Lebanon, PA. The company got its start in 1990, at a time when there was still a lot of chopped and formed jerky on the market.

It was created by five snack food distributors that saw a market niche to fill by pooling together their collective resources. Since then it has grown to be named as one of the top 5,000 fastest growing companies by Inc. Magazine.

This particular variety of "Premium Hickory Smoked" jerky that I'm reviewing is the one that launched the company.

Ingredients

Beef, soy sauce, corn syrup, flavorings, cultured whey sodium nitrite.

Taste

The first tastes that come through upon popping a piece into my mouth is the hickory smoke, followed by the natural meat flavors. The soy sauce flavor shows up soon after.

I'd say the predominant flavor in this jerky is the natural meat flavors. It offers a great beef taste with that hickory smokiness. In fact as the package advertises this as "Hickory Smoked", it is in fact very smoky. I'm not an expert on smoke woods, but I've had other hickory smoked jerky, and this does have a similarity.

The soy sauce flavoring is something you sense after softening up a piece and chewing it for several seconds. It's mostly noticeable as a saltiness. This jerky isn't overly "salty" by any means, however.

And while corn syrup is listed in the ingredients, I don't really taste much sweetness at all.

My close up photo caught some specs of black pepper here and there, but I don't really taste it.

Overall, this is a very tasty, smoky, variety of beef jerky that emphasizes the natural beef flavors with some saltiness. The flavors all seem to last throughout the chew.

Meat Consistency

These are cuts of real meat, sliced into medium thickness, and in small to medium sized pieces.

This is a dry jerky, one that retains a lot of flexibility. Tearing a apart piece requires some effort, but I wouldn't call this tough. Chewing also requires some effort as well, but just the same, I couldn't call it tough either. Someone not used to eating a lot of jerky might see this as tough, however.

I found some chewy tendon (or some kind of membrane) on a couple of pieces. I noticed one small piece that appeared to be all fat, tendon, gristle with some pieces of meat in between. Otherwise, the rest of the pieces are void of gristle. One piece had nice spot of fat on it.

Overall, the meat consistency is good. I'm not counting that small piece of fat-tendon-gristle since it was just that one small piece, and likely slipped through the quality check.

Buffalo Bills Beef Jerky - Premium Hickory

Buffalo Bills Beef Jerky - Premium Hickory
Product Value

Choo Choo R Snacks sells this variety on its website at a price of $5.49 for a 3.5oz bag. That works out to $1.57 per ounce, making this an average priced jerky.

I'd say this offers a good value. You're getting a beef jerky that has a lot of natural meat flavors, with a good meat consistency, and a taste that lasts throughout the chew.

As a hickory smoked variety, it lives up well to that claim.

Rating

I'm giving this a good rating.

This Premium Hickory Smoked jerky offers the great taste of real beef, a tasty hickory smokiness, and a soy sauce flavor, which gives you a trio of flavors that lasts throughout the chew. Combine that with its good meat consistency, and you have a very snackable jerky.

But that trio is a pretty familiar combination that beef jerky afficionados have experienced all too often. If it could add one more taste dimension, perhaps more sweetness, more garlic, or more black pepper, I could give it a best rating.

I wouldn't mind it being a little more easier to eat.

Otherwise, if you want a beef jerky that puts emphasis on being smoky and retaining the natural beef flavors, kinda like how "Buffalo" Bill Cody might have made it himself, this is it.

Rating: Good

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