Tofurky Jurky - Peppered

Tofurky is a brand of vegan food, originally meant to mimic turkey, but made from mostly tofu. It got it's start as a Thanksgiving substitute for the real deal, trying to cash in on the vegan food movement.

The brand is owned by Turtle Island Foods of Hood River, OR.

The concept of tofu-based meat is perhaps one of the biggest oxymorons in vegan cuisine. My assumption is that vegans love vegetables, hence the name "vegan". So why would vegetable-fanatics even desire anything meant to mimic meat? Considering how successful Turtle Island Foods has done with Tofurky, I guess they do.

Not to mention it's got to be the furthest thing from being natural. It's got enough ingredients to make a fertilizer scientist wet his pants.

But I digress.

So why would I, a beef jerky lover, would even bother trying tofu jerky? Well, something in the back of my mind told me that if I wanted to be the nation's foremost expert on jerky, I must try it all.

Ingredients

Water, vital wheat gluten, organic tofu (water, organic soybeans, magnesium chloride, calcium chloride), expeller pressed canola oil, natural vegetarian flavors, shoyu soy sauce (water, wheat, non-genetically engineered soybeans, culture), non-genetically engineered corn starch, white bean flour, garbanzo bean flour, cracked peppercorns, lemon juice from concentrate, organic evaporated cane juice, granulated garlic, calcium lactate from beets, cultured dextrose and maltodextrin.

Taste

I knew going in that this stuff would not mimic anything close to real beef jerky (or turkey jerky at that), so I tried to keep an open mind. I just wanted to know if this stuff would taste good on its own.

YUCK!

OH - MY - GOD!!!

I took just one bite, only one bite from just one piece, and that's all I needed to know. I don't even want another bite.

This stuff sucks.

If I was a vegan, I would eat real food, like celery, oranges, peanuts, bread. Why on Earth would anyone proclaiming to love all natural foods, would desire to eat anything so foul as this? Are vegans secretly desiring a rib eye steak so badly, that they'll stomach this kind of hellish putridity?

Ok, this stuff kinda tastes like rotten tofu, that's been doctored up with enough salt and spices to make it somewhat plausible. I know what real tofu tastes like, because I've eaten enough it, due to having some Japanese ancestry in my lineage. This is just horrible.

This stuff smells like dog treats. I know, because I have a couple of dogs, and have purchased many varieties of dog treats. I'm telling you, this stuff smells exactly like dog treats.

Consistency

It offers some chewiness, similar to "formed jerky", where they ground up the floor sweepings of beef, and press it into strips. Except this stuff obviously contains no beef. This stuff crumbles apart in your mouth.

These pieces are also rather sticky to the touch. They leave your fingers with the same dog treat smell that you'd get from tossing out real dog treats.

If you tried to bend these pieces, they break apart.





Product Value

I paid $3.15 for this 2.0 ounce bag at a Sprouts store in Temecula, CA. That works out to $1.58 per ounce, putting this into the average price range.

I'd say that this offers very little value for your money. Albeit that only vegans would eat this stuff, it taste so horrible I just can't see how anyone would want to eat it. My guess is that the original Tofurky, which is the tofu-based turkey, is probably better, or else the company would be out of business.

Take a look at the nutrition label below, and notice this stuff actually contains more fat, and more carbohydrates, than real beef jerky (or even real turkey jerky). If you wanted this for dieting purposes, you're better off with the real stuff.

If you're a vegan, and you want to pack something small, that offers plenty of protein, then pack some trail mix. This stuff just sucks.

Rating

I'm giving this a "dog treats" rating.

Horrible taste, horrible consistency, a smell that resembles dog treats, and offering nothing that mimics real jerky in any way, shape or form, Tofurky Jurky sets a new standard for the bottom of the barrel.

(And yes, I gave the rest to my dogs)

Rating: Dog Treats

Buy this online:

• Amazon.com

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Ju Ju Jerky - Spicy Turkey

Ju Ju Jerky is a relatively new brand of jerky, having broken into the market in 2004. Their focus is on infusing jerky with Caribbean style flavorings.

I had only discovered this brand just a week ago at a local grocery store, while trying to look for beef jerky free of preservatives, and sure enough that's also what Ju Ju Jerky specializes in.

The company is also based in Southern California, so I'm not sure if folks across the states are able to find this in their stores. Ju Ju Jerky does offer sales online.

Last Friday, I reviewed their Turkey Jerky, and gave it a "best" rating. So going into this Spicy Turkey Jerky, I have very high expectations.

Ingredients

Turkey, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, brown cane sugar, lemon pepper, hickory smoke flavor, spices, onion powder.

These ingredients are exactly the same as their plain Turkey Jerky. I'm guessing there's extra stuff in their "spices".

Taste

The taste is pretty much what I recall in Ju Ju's plain Turkey Jerky, with the difference that it is indeed a bit more spicy. It's not hot at all, I'd consider this mild. Lesser-experienced tongues might see this as medium-hot.

The primary taste that comes out of this is the worcestershire sauce, and sweet. After that, I notice the unique Caribbean style flavorings, some garlic, the lemon pepper.

Just like with the plain Turkey Jerky, there isn't much saltiness with this, which is backed up by the fact that the nutrition label shows only 170mg of sodium, probably the lowest level of sodium I've seen with jerky. To me, that's great. I don't like salty jerky.

As for the Caribbean style flavor blend, honestly I can't tell you if this actually mimics what you might find in the Caribbean islands, since I'm not familiar with that cuisine. But I can tell you that I'm definitely tasting a spice blend that is very unique, and something that I can't put to words.

While the flavoring is very good, I don't taste much in the natural turkey meat flavors. The flavoring is so thick and varied, that you don't really notice the meat taste. In fact, I'd have trouble noticing this as turkey. In softening up a piece in my mouth, and sucking out the juices, mostly what I get is the taste of flavorings, not so much meat.

Between the plain Turkey Jerky and this Spicy Turkey Jerky, I like the spicy better. I'm just partial to spicy foods, that's all. If anything, I was kinda expecting something more spicy than this. I mean, I expecting "hot". This is actually just slightly more spicy than the plain. But then again, the packaging doesn't say that it's "hot", just "spicy".

Meat Consistency

These appear to be real slices of meat, sliced in average to thin thickness, and are very easy to tear apart and chew.

The package claims this to be "Moist and Tender", and I would have to agree. The pieces are not dry by my standards. They are very tender, and offer a moist and sticky touch.

I don't find much in the way of tendon or gristle in this review sample. I don't see much fat either; these appear to be very lean pieces.

Overall, the meat consistency provides a very enjoyable jerky experience.





Product Value

I paid $5.99 for this 3.25 ounce bag at an Albertson's grocery store in Menifee, CA. That works out to $1.84 per ounce, putting this in the average price range, but at the upper end.

This definitely provides a great value as a turkey jerky. You often think of turkey jerky as tasting "foul", because that's what it is, a bird. But Ju Ju's brand of turkey jerky is so loaded with flavor that you'd never know it was turkey.

It has great snackability with its complex taste, moist and tender chewing, and overall excellent jerky experience. I can't stop reaching for more.

Not to forget, that this contains no sodium nitrite. Considering that this comes without preservatives, and is able to taste this great, makes it icing on the cake.

Rating

I'm giving this a "best" rating.

This is basically the same as the company's plain Turkey Jerky, which I also rated as "best", but just a little bit spicier. To me, that makes it little bit better.

Being easy to eat, packed full of unique flavoring, free of preservatives, and very low in sodium, I can't see how you'd go wrong buying a bag.

Rating: Best

Buy this online:

• http://www.jujujerkystore.com

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Pacific Gold Beef Jerky - Teriyaki

The 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.





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

I'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

Visit product online:

• http://www.pacificgoldjerky.com/

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Ju Ju Jerky - Turkey

Ju Ju Jerky is a brand that I only discovered today while replenishing my supplies of jerky for review. I found it at my local Albertson's grocery store here in Southern California.

The company appears to have gotten its start in 2004, offering four varieties of jerky, two of them beef, and two of them turkey. In this article, I'm doing a review of their "original" turkey jerky.

The Ju Ju Jerky brand is focused on marrying jerky with caribbean style flavors, and doing it with no preservatives. Leaving out the preservative is something that I took notice of since I'm now trying to escape from sodium nitrite jerky.

Ingredients

Turkey, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, brown cane sugar, lemon pepper, hickory smoke flavor, spices, onion powder.

Sure enough, no sodium nitrite listed.

Taste

All I can is "Wow!", this turkey jerky has a fabulous taste, and tons of it. There is a clearly evident sweetness to it, and I can detect the worcestershire sauce too. As I let the pieces soften up in my mouth, and I can continue to extract more flavor.

Probably the first taste that hits me is a combination of the sweet, pepper, and worcestershire sauce. I can also detect some garlic too. The pepper adds a slight spiciness to it, something I'd consider mild, but maybe medium hot to some others.

A couple of pieces contained an extra shot of lemon peel, perhaps from the lemon pepper. I found it to be a welcome surprise, adding only more to the flavor complexity.

It's not overly salty either. The nutrition label backs that up, with only 170mg per serving, compared to 400-700mg for most other big brands.

As for tasting the natural turkey meat flavors, I can't really taste much of it. In fact, if I didn't know this was turkey, I'd think it was beef. There is so much flavoring in there, that I don't really taste any natural meat flavors. The consistency does resemble something like turkey however, that is it doesn't tear apart the same way that beef does.

This turkey offers excellent taste, plenty of variety in flavorings, and a mild bit of spiciness.

Meat Consistency

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

Just as the packaging says, these are indeed "moist and tender". They're very easy to tear apart, and very easy to chew. I find myself breaking apart a piece with my fingers, and then sucking on a piece to extract all the flavors, and it almost melts in my mouth.

I don't see much at all in the way of fat or tendon, but I did find one piece with a streak of gristle. However it was still easy to eat. Otherwise, these are very lean pieces.

Ju Ju Jerky says they use only free range turkey.





Product Value

I paid $5.99 for a 3.25 ounce bag at an Albertson's grocery store in Menifee, CA. That works out to a price of $1.84 per ounce, which is in the average price range, but towards the upper end.

As a general turkey jerky, this offers excellent value, with tons of flavor, plenty of flavor complexity, and is very easy to tear apart and chew. I can't stop reaching for more of this stuff.

Better yet, it contains no preservatives, and no sodium nitrite. Combine that with its great taste, and you've got something worth your money.

I can't tell you if this jerky lives up to its billing as a "caribbean flavored" jerky, since I'm not familiar with that style of cuisine. But it does indeed offer a flavor combination that I haven't encountered in any kind of jerky.

Rating

I'm giving this a "best" rating.

I always put extra weight on the "snackability" of a jerky, and this definitely has me savoring each piece and wanting more. It provides an excellent jerky experience, being tender and moist, and providing an abundance of complex flavors.

In trying to find something negative to say about this, I can't find anything aside from that I don't taste much any of the natural turkey flavors. I always like to taste some resemblance of the meat itself. But then I never really was a big fan of turkey jerky anyways. But I love the seasoning blend so much that I'm going to overlook it.

I'm going to have get me the two other beef jerky varieties of theirs.

Rating: Best

Buy this online:

• http://www.jujujerkystore.com/

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Pemmican Beef Jerky - Teriyaki

Pemmican is one of the top selling brands of beef jerky in the United States, manufactured by Con Agra Foods.

But "pemmican" is also an Native American term that identifies a type of food that resembles beef jerky. This food is not quite the same as beef jerky, but similar. Pemmican is pounded "beef meal" that is mixed together with other ingredients.

In that sense, the Pemmican brand of beef jerky might be similar to the original pemmican, because it has a similar consistency.

Ingredients

Beef, sugar, water, soy sauce, salt, less than 2% of monosodium glutamate, wine, vinegar, flavoring, brown sugar, succinic acid, maltodextrin, corn syrup solids, sodium nitrite, lemon juice solids, soy lecithin.

Taste

Being that this is a teriyaki variety, I expected to get a good taste of teriyaki, but I don't find a lot. I do indeed taste some teriyaki, just not a great deal.

Most of what I taste is a something of a meaty taste, but it doesn't taste much like actual steak. If anything it has something of a "old meat" taste, or a "rank taste" to it. I'm thinking its the tenderization process that gives it this strange taste.

There is a lot of salt taste in this, in fact that's what I probably end up tasting the most. I can also sense a bit of the soy sauce, but as an aftertaste.

Overall, this jerky has an "ok" taste. It's not a great taste, or even a good taste, it's just enough to pass muster.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be made from real cuts of beef muscle, sliced in medium to thick thickness, and in small pieces.

These pieces are very soft, in fact that's what strikes me the most with this sample of Pemmican, it's very tender. It's not necessarily moist, though some pieces are moist, it's just soft.

I also find this to be somewhat oily to the touch, but not too much that it requires cleaning. But I do find myself rubbing my fingers together to remove what layer of oil that got picked up.

I can see a fair amount of gristle in these pieces, but the tenderization process appears to have removed the toughness of the gristle. I do find a fair amount of fat.






Product Value

I paid $4.99 for this 3.65 ounce bag at a Stater Bros market in Menifee, CA. That works out to $1.38 per ounce, putting this in the average price range.

Probably the only value I'm finding in this is the high level of tenderness in these pieces. Otherwise, I don't consider this to provide a great beef jerky experience due to its high salt taste, somewhat strange meat flavor, and oily consistency. As a teriyaki variety, it doesn't even provide much teriyaki taste.

Rating

I'm giving this a "fair" rating.

Just eating this, you get a quick sense of mediocrity from the strange meat taste and oily consistency. If all you need is a protein fix, maybe this will do, but then again, why bother with this when there are so many other better tasting brands?

The high level of salt is always turn off for me, and the fact that as a teriyaki variety it doesn't taste much like teriyaki. But it's still "acceptable" enough that I'd eat it, and not toss it to the dogs.

Rating: Fair

Buy this online:

• Amazon.com


• eBay.com

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Oh Boy! Oberto - Hickory Beef Jerky

Oh Boy! Oberto enjoys the largest market share of beef jerky sales in the USA, and it's largely due to its branding, as well as its bright, eye-catching, packaging. The brand only makes a handful of beef jerky varieties, and despite it's rather small and ordinary offerings, the brand manages to outsell all other brands.

It doesn't necessarily make great beef jerky, but it's still good enough to satisfy most snackers.

Hickory smoked-beef jerky is something you don't see as often anymore, with mesquite smoke flavoring taking over much of the varieties now. But hickory is a type of smoke flavoring that I happen to like very much, and I personally think has an aroma that goes really well with jerky.

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Stater Bros. Beef Jerky - Original

Most people have not heard of "Stater Bros.", as it's a chain of grocery stores limited to Southern California, but it's a chain that's pretty popular among locals, and one known for its full service meat department.

While their meat department is famous, it's brand of beef jerky isn't. I hadn't realized they offered their own brand until shopping there a few weeks ago. I picked up this bag of Original flavored beef jerky, as well as their Peppered variety (read review).

In the Peppered variety, I had said it tasted exactly like the Albertson's brand, and was probably made by the same private labeler.

Ingredients

Beef, water, sugar, vinegar, salt, maltodextrin, flavorings, monosodium glutamate, spice, sodium erythorbate, citric acid, sodium nitrite.

Taste

The first thing that I taste with this Original variety is the mesquite smoke flavor, salt, and something that resembles soy sauce, though soy sauce is not mentioned on the ingredients (it's probably the MSG). For plain beef jerky, this stuff is pretty plain.

I do taste quite a bit of the natural meat flavors, just as I did with Stater Bros' Peppered variety. Many of the pieces (at least in this bag), contains some fair amount of fat marbilization, which adds that oily texture that you can only get from a real steak.

Overall, this brand and variety of beef jerky provides a pleasant taste, albeit a pretty plain one.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be cuts of real beef muscle, sliced medium thickness, and in mostly small pieces. For an average sized bag, I would have liked to see more larger pieces, just so that I could satisfy my carnal craving for ripping apart flesh.

Most of these pieces are on the dry side, but not terribly dry. Some require a bit of effort to tear apart and chew. One particular piece was almost like rawhide. Otherwise, several other pieces were easy to eat.

Most of these pieces have a fair amount of fat marbilization, and I found a similar number that contained some chewy tendon and gristle. This is all consistent with Stater Bros' Peppered jerky.





Product Value

I paid $3.50 for a 3.65 ounce bag, which works out to $1.04 per ounce, putting this into the "average" price range, but on the border with cheap.

Overall, this jerky provides an average value. While it offers good taste, there are still several pieces that require some effort to chew, either because the meat is tough or there's quite a bit of tendon and/or gristle. The fact that it's priced lower than most brands is what makes this a decent buy.

As an "Original" variety of jerky, it's pretty plain. I do enjoy tasting the natural meat flavors in this, but found myself wanting to taste some additional layer of flavoring. There are plenty of original varieties that can offer something more than just sodium.

Rating

I'm giving this a "fair" rating.

Perhaps it's only saving grace is that it offers a decent amount of natural meat flavors. Otherwise, the taste is pretty uninteresting, not bad, just nothing great.

What prevented it from the higher rating of "average", is that too many of the pieces were difficult to chew. While the majority of the pieces were still easy, there was still too many that were difficult. I always expect at least one or two pieces to offer some chewing challenges, I'd say somewhere from 25% to 40% offered some kind of difficulty that ruined the overal beef jerky experience.

Rating: Fair

Where to buy: Any Stater Bros. grocery store

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Wal-Mart Great Value Beef Jerky - Peppered

The "Great Value" brand is probably Wal-Mart's greatest brand, representing thousands of products found around the home, pantries, and refrigerators. And as such, their offering of beef jerky is quickly building up as a popular buy by many snack food eaters.

The peppered variety remains my favorite of all beef jerky varieties, just because I love the taste of black pepper, particularly when mixed with steak.

Just like I mentioned in my review of Wal-Mart's "Sweet & Hot" beef jerky, there offering leaves me wondering if Jack Link's is their private labeler. These pieces have a look, aroma, and taste that resembles Jack Link's. But who knows.

Ingredients

Beef, water, sugar, corn syrup solids, salt, maltodextrin, dried soy sauce, monosodium glutamate, flavoring, hydrolized corn protein, spice, sodium erythorbate, paprika, smoke flavor, sodium nitrite.

Taste

Mostly what I taste is the black pepper. There is a good amount of it visible on each piece. There is also a slight sweetness, but it's the same slight sweetness you tend to find on much of the big brand jerkies. The saltiness is light, in fact the nutrition label shows 370mg per serving, which is on the lower end compared to most jerky.

There is some slight taste of the natural meat flavors. You have to keep a piece in your mouth for about 10-15 seconds, chew on it slightly, and suck out the juices. But it's there. Would prefer to taste more, but then again, you get what you pay for.

Overall, it has a good taste, plenty of peppery flavor, but aside from that, nothing else spectacular.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be real cuts of beef muscle, sliced in average thickness, and in medium to small pieces.

The pieces are soft and tender, and easy to tear apart and chew. They are not "dry" as far as jerky goes, but not moist. They're just soft. I did find one piece that was stood out as being dry.

I can see some fat marbilization in these pieces, and found some chewy tendon in many of them.

Some of these pieces have that rubbery like consistency, "gummy jerky", that Jack Link's is known for, further suggesting that it was made by them.





Product Value

I paid $2.98 for this 4 ounce bag, making that $0.75 per ounce, within the cheap range.

I consider this to be a pretty good value, maybe even a "Great Value", considering it's largely an average beef jerky at a low price. I've had more expensive beef jerky that basically tasted no different. If what you're looking for is a decent beef jerky, with lots of black pepper taste, at a low price, this is the stuff.

As a peppered variety, this lives up to its claim.

I could see myself buying more of this, just to enjoy some peppered beef jerky for a low price.

Rating

I'm giving this an "average" rating.

It's still an average beef jerky. While it offers plenty of black pepper taste in a black pepper variety, it offers very little natural meat flavors. I would like to taste something extra to compliment the black pepper.

But as a beef jerky in general, it's still good.

It also offer plenty of snackability, keeping you reaching for more.

Rating: Average

Where to Buy: Any Wal-Mart.

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Bridgford Beef Jerky - Sweet & Hot

The Bridgford brand of beef jerky is the nation's third largest brand in terms of market share, behind Oh Boy Oberto! and Jack Link's. Yet, it's probably one of the most obscure of all the top selling jerky brands. That's perhaps a testament to their expertise in getting their products in the most visible places.

The Sweet & Hot variety is a flavor sensation that many beef jerky brands are picking up on. It's actually been around for awhile, but it seemingly is becoming more mainstream in recent years. I've always preferred spicy beef jerky, but I do enjoy a jerky that swims in sticky, gooey, finger-licking, sugary goodness.

Ingredients

Beef, Water, Salt, Sugar, Flavoring, Monosodium Glutamate, Sodium Erythorbate, Sodium Nitrite

Taste

Despite being labeled as a "Sweet & Hot" variety, I can't taste much in terms of sweet. In fact, this variety doesn't taste any more sweet than an "original" or "plain" variety of jerky. While the ingredients list does list sugar, you can certainly taste a slight bit of sweetness, but again, it's nothing more than what you'd expect to taste in a regular variety of beef jerky.

As for being "hot", this a joke. I don't taste any hot at all. There is indeed a fair amount of black pepper, but if that's what they classify as "hot", then I've been ripped-off. Even after finishing the whole bag, I'm not even reaching for a bottle of water.

Most of what I taste in this is a slight sense of natural meat flavors, black pepper, and some salt.

This jerky doesn't taste bad on the other hand. It has a decent taste, and is enjoyable. If Bridgford called this "peppered", I'd be somewhat more satisfied. However, the taste that this jerky offers doesn't really strike me as being unique. It tastes like regular, plain old jerky, with some black pepper on it.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be made from real cuts of beef muscle, sliced to an average thickness, and in medium to small pieces.

For the most part, these pieces are on the dry side, with a few pieces being somewhat more moist. They are somewhat easy to tear apart and chew.

I found one piece with quite a bit of fat, which most people probably would not like, but is something I happen to enjoy. I didn't find much in the way of tendon or gristle.

Overall, the meat consistency provides an enjoyable beef jerky experience.





Product Value

I bought this at a Walgreens store in Menifee, CA and had a price of $3.99 per 3 ounce bag. That works out to $1.33 per ounce, putting it into the average ballpark, but at the lower end. Walgreens has a deal where if you buy two bags, you get them at $3.50 per bag, making it $1.17 per ounce. Either way, it's priced at the lower echelon of average.

As a beef jerky, it provides good value. It's for the most part easy to eat, and provides some good taste. But as a "Sweet & Hot" variety, it's a rip-off. If you crave a beef jerky that burns your mouth and satisfies your sweet-tooth at the same time, you'll be disappointed by Bridgford's offering.

I found the jerky to have good snackability, keeping me reaching for more. Even as I composed this review, I found myself satisfied eating this at the same time. As low-priced as it was, you might find this good as a snack while you're busy something else.

Rating

I'm giving this a "fair" rating.

It's mostly because it falls flat on its face as a "Sweet & Hot" variety. If they had labeled this simply as a "Peppered" variety, I would have given it a higher rating, at "average".

It's still a decent beef jerky just for snacking. But otherwise, it doesn't stand out as offering you something unique and exceptional. It's largely what you'd expect to get from the nation's third largest brand of beef jerky.

Rating: Fair

Buy this online:

• Walgreens.com

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Jack Link's Beef Jerky - Pepperoni

Jack Link's continues to introduce some of the most innovative beef jerky flavors, and this Pepperoni variety is another curiosity that picques my interest.

While most of Jack Link's series of beef jerky has largely rated as "average" on this blog, I can't help wanting to try their new flavors. Perhaps it's part of their sales strategy.

The pepperoni variety was introduced about a year-and-a-half ago, and represented the first-ever beef jerky to come with a pepperoni flavoring.

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