Perfect! Yancey's Fancy Grilled Bacon Cheeseburger Delights!

The Good: Wonderful flavor, Easy to work with, Good ingredients
The Bad: Nothing that I can find!
The Basics: Yancey's Fancy Grilled Bacon Cheeseburger cheddar cheese is a perfect cheese for anyone who loves being able to taste the cheese and meat flavors a cheese embodies!


I love Yancey's Fancy cheese. I love Yancey's Fancy cheese so much that on my last trip through New York, I bought a bunch of flavors of the cheese that have not yet made it out to the midwest where I live now. One of the flavors I picked up that I was most eager to try was the Yancey's Fancy Grilled Bacon Cheeseburger. And it was worth the wait!

The bacon in the Yancey's Fancy Grilled Bacon Cheeseburger Cheddar pops and the cheese tastes like a much sharper cheddar than I would have guessed given how soft it is. But given my love of well-aged cheddar cheese, this was not at all a detraction for me!

Basics

Yancey's Fancy is a manufacturer of Artisan Cheeses in upstate New York and they make some very creative cheeses. The intent of most Yancey's Fancy cheeses is that they will be cheeses that hold their own as snacks that may be served to consumers in fancier settings. They specialize in cheddar cheeses that have different flavors infused into them: champagne, jalapeno, various nuts, etc., as well as more exotic cheeses like gouda with bacon. Yancey's Fancy cheeses come in wheels (usually ten or twenty pounds each) and most stores chop the wheels into blocks. Online, it is fairly easy to find the cheese in one pound blocks, though this new flavor seems to have limited availability and quantity.

The Grilled Bacon Cheeseburger Cheddar cheese is exactly as its name implies. This is a weirdly colored sickly brown-yellow cheese with giant bacon bits in it. Mixed throughout the cheddar block are the actual chunks of red, cooked bacon which carry their flavor into every bite of the cheese. Yancey's Fancy Grilled Bacon Cheeseburger Cheddar cheese comes encased in a soft dark green wax which allows the cheese to maintain its shape and solid state. The dark green wax helps consumers distinguish it from other flavors of Yancey's Fancy cheese.

Ease Of Preparation

Yancey's Fancy Grilled Bacon Cheeseburger Cheddar cheese is a cheese, so more often than not, it is used on its own or as an ingredient in a recipe. Preparation of the cheese is pretty simple, starting with removing the plastic wrap it is sealed in. When that is done, simply peel back the wax coating on the outer edges. This happens with remarkable ease. The Grilled Bacon Cheeseburger Cheddar cheese seems to not adhere to the wax. This makes it a very easy cheese to separate from the wax coating and it may be placed on a cutting block or plate ready to be cut!

More than most cheeses with other things embedded in them, Yancey's Fancy Grilled Bacon Cheeseburger Cheddar cheese is very easy to work with. I just picked up a new cheese plane and maybe it is because of that, but this cheese sliced exceptionally easily! This cheese is not so hard to fracture or otherwise fall apart. It is very easy to work with on its own or as an ingredient.

When the cheese is sliced, it melts beautifully with wonderful evenness and liquidity, making it an ideal ingredient to make flavorful omelets or to replace cheddar cheese in dishes like macaroni and cheese. It is delicious when melted into sandwiches, eggs or even a cream sauce (to make a cheese sauce). The first time I tried this cheese was in a grilled cheese on fresh rye bread and it is not an understatement to classify that dish as "orgasmic."

Taste

On its own, the Yancey's Fancy Grilled Bacon Cheeseburger Cheddar cheese smells like a delightful blend of bacon and cheddar. The aromas from this cheese are distinct and inviting, living up on the scent front to the promises of two of the three promised flavors.

In the mouth, Grilled Bacon Cheeseburger Cheddar cheese has all the tang of a cheddar cheese sharper than this one and the salty, meaty flavor of bacon. The flavors are delightful and full, making for an instantly flavorful cheese that tastes like what one would expect from eating a bacon cheese burger! The cheesy, meaty flavors make for a well-rounded intriguing taste when enjoyed on its own or as an ingredient.

Melted, the cheese and bacon flavors blend even better, making for a cheese that becomes the focal point of the flavor palate, not a supporting player! The Yancey's Fancy Grilled Bacon Cheeseburger is not an accent cheese, it is the cheese one uses when they want to taste a rich, meaty, cheesy flavor at the forefront of their taste experience. That makes the Grilled Bacon Cheeseburger ideal for quesadillas, omelettes, and more complicated dishes like macaroni and cheese!

The Yancey's Fancy Grilled Bacon Cheeseburger Cheddar leaves a nicely salty, slightly tangy aftertaste in the mouth after the last of this cheese is consumed and the aftertaste is not at all unpleasant.

Nutrition

Yancey's Fancy New York Artisan Cheeses are not intended to be all that one lives on. But for those who try, the Grilled Bacon Cheeseburger Cheddar cheese is not a terribly healthy choice. The bacon does not seem to add anything of note to the cheese of nutritional value. A serving size is considered a one inch block (1 oz.). In that, there are 110 calories, 80 of which are from fat. This cheese has 25% of one's daily recommended saturated fat intake and 11% of the RDA of sodium. On the plus side, it does have 15% of the RDA of calcium and has six grams of protein.

The Yancey's Fancy Grilled Bacon Cheeseburger Cheddar cheese is a dairy product, so those who are lactose intolerant will have problems with it. This cheese is made primarily of aged cheddar cheese, annato and bacon bits. That makes it mostly natural, but it does have the preservative trisodium citrate, which robs it of being considered all natural. This Yancey's Fancy cheese is not marked as gluten free and, obviously, it is not suitable for Vegans!

Storage/Cleanup

As a cheese, Yancey's Fancy Grilled Bacon Cheeseburger Cheddar cheese should be kept refrigerated. So long as that happens, it ought to stay fresh for several weeks. I am utterly unable to write about shelf-life as our 7.6 oz block was gone within three days of being opened! So long as it is kept in an airtight, cold environment, it ought to remain fresh and supple. Our package bought a month and a half ago had an expiration date of November 1, 2018.

Grilled Bacon Cheeseburger Cheddar is a cheese, so it is not going to stain or ruin anything unless it is ground into a fabric. Baring that, cleanup of nonporous surfaces is as easy as wiping them with a damp cloth.

Overall

Yancey’s Fancy Grilled Bacon Cheeseburger Cheddar cheese is flat-out perfect and it is a cheese I know I will stock up on . . . just as soon as I can get back to where it is sold!

For other Yancey's Fancy cheese reviews, please check out my takes on:
Bacon Ranch Cheddar
Steakhouse Onion Cheddar
Peppadew Cheddar

10/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my Food Review Index Page!

© 2018 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Erratic, But High-Quality: Wild Ophelia Beef Jerky & Smoked Salt Chocolate Bars Are A Pleasant Surprise!

The Good: Decent flavor for the salt and the chocolate, Wonderful quality, Does not melt easily, Good company!
The Bad: Comparatively expensive, Erratic distribution of jerky
The Basics: The Wild Ophelia Beef Jerky & Smoked Salt Chocolate Bars have a decent chocolate and salt flavor, without consistently containing the promised beef jerky.


It has been a while since I had the opportunity to enjoy Wild Ophelia chocolates. Living in the middle of nowhere, it is not a brand that is well-represented in my local marketplace. But, when my wife recently gifted me a whole assortment of Wild Ophelia chocolates for our enjoyment and review, I could not have been happier. I am starting my return to Wild Ophelia chocolates with their Beef Jerky & Smoked Salt Chocolate Bars.

Wild Ophelia chocolate bars are expensive, but well worth the price.

Basics

The Wild Ophelia Beef Jerky & Smoked Salt Chocolate Bar is a solid milk chocolate bar from Wild Ophelia. Each 2 oz. chocolate bar is wrapped in a cardboard wrapper. Inside the cardboard case is a thick metallic plastic wrapper (with a seam resembling a Pop Tart more than a chocolate bar). The actual chocolate bar is 4 1/2” long by 2 13/16” wide by 1/4” thick. The Bar has no identifying marks or logos on it, but it is segmented to make four 1 1/8” wide by 2 13/16” long bars. The top features ribbing that give the bar a very Art Deco look that is distinctive.

The chocolate is firm, creamy and not at all waxy; it’s a quality chocolate bar. Individually, the bars are found in the $5.99 range. Given the quality of these bars, it is tough to call them too expensive, especially with the quality of the salt in them.

Ease Of Preparation

Wild Ophelia Beef Jerky & Smoked Salt Chocolate bars are chocolate; preparing them is as easy as unwrapping the candy bar. Because the chocolate is a premium chocolate product, I recommend eating this a little at a time, not just biting right into the bar.

Taste

The Beef Jerky & Smoked Salt Chocolate chocolate bar smells wonderful! These chocolate bars smell like milk chocolate with a hint of something meaty to them. Interestingly, the aroma of the jerky is not able to overwhelm the scent of the 41% Cacao that coats it. The chocolate in these Wild Ophelia bars is aromatic and inviting to anyone who loves quality chocolate.

In the mouth, the Beef Jerky & Smoked Salt Chocolate chocolate bar is sweet and buttery. The chocolate is enhanced by a very strong salt flavor. The salt cuts the sweetness and accents the cacao flavor in the chocolate. The salt and chocolate blend delightfully. Unfortunately, the jerky manifests more as a texture - hard, then chewy - than an actual flavor. While there are occasional bites within some of these bars that have a distinct flavor of smoked meat in them, most of the bites are dominated by the smoked salt in the chocolate.

The Beef Jerky & Smoked Salt Chocolate bar has a dry aftertaste. The dry flavor is not unpleasant or very enduring.

Nutrition

Wild Ophelia makes their fine chocolates with quality ingredients, which is arguably why they range in price in the real world and online is a bit more than other chocolate bars! With the primary ingredients being milk chocolate (41% cacao), beef jerky, and salt, the Wild Ophelia Beef Jerky & Smoked Salt Chocolate bars are a candy bar, not a legitimate source of nutrition needed to survive. That said, Wild Ophelia uses natural ingredients and organic ingredients where possible; none of the ingredients are unpronounceable. In a full 56 gram serving (2 ounce), there are 290 calories, 170 of which are from fat. This represents 30% of one’s RDA of fat (54% of the RDA of saturated fat). Each bar has 150 mg of Sodium (which makes sense given that there is smoked salt in the bars!) and 5 grams of protein. There is a smattering of Calcium (8% RDA) and Iron (25% RDA), but no other vitamins and minerals. In other words, this is not a snack to try to survive on.

While the bars are all natural with no artificial ingredients and have no preservatives, they do contain soy, milk, and real meat. As well, there is an allergy warning for tree nuts and peanuts. Obviously, with the beef jerky and milk, these bars are not Vegan-compliant.

Storage/Clean-Up

Because the chocolate is generally hard, but a milk chocolate, the Wild Ophelia Beef Jerky & Smoked Salt Chocolate bars are somewhat susceptible to heat. These should be kept cool in order to not melt, but I have not had any problems with mine. As long as they are kept cool and dry, these bars will last almost a year (the ones my wife gave me yesterday would have lasted until February 17, 2018, had it not been devoured by my wife and I).

Clean-up is easy, so long as the chocolate does not melt. The Wild Ophelia Beef Jerky & Smoked Salt Chocolate bars have wrappers that ought to be properly disposed of, but otherwise, the chocolate washes off skin and non-porous surfaces. It the chocolate melts onto fabric, consult a fabric guide.

Overall

The Wild Ophelia Beef Jerky & Smoked Salt Chocolate Bar varied in flavor - our first bite had jerky, but none of the rest of the bar did. As a result, this was an unfortunately erratic representation of chocolate and jerky, but an amazing chocolate and salt bar.

For other chocolate, please check out my reviews of:
Trader Joe's Marbled Mint Crunch Chocolate Bar
Russell Stover Freeze-It Mint Chocolate Chip In Dark Chocolate
Lindt Dark Pineapple Chocolate Bars

8/10

For more food reviews, please check out my Food Review Index Page!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Except For Those Who Know What It Is Supposed To Be, Barilla Bacon & Cheese Sauce Satisfies!

The Good: Generally good ingredients, Affordable
The Bad: Not distinctly bacon or cheese flavored, Mediocre on the nutrition front
The Basics: Barilla Bacon & Cheese Sauce does not taste bad, but it does not taste truly of bacon or any cheese.


Lately, I've been trying some very different pasta sauces and some of them a pretty good. Others are much more mediocre than truly wonderful. Sadly, when I saw the Barilla Bacon & Cheese Sauce on my local grocery store's clearance rack, I was very excited by the prospect. Bacon and cheese are two of my favorite flavors for . . . well, pretty much anything. So, I was drawn eagerly to the Barilla Bacon & Cheese Sauce. But, alas, the Barilla Bacon & Cheese Sauce was hardly stellar.

Basics

Barilla Bacon & Cheese Sauce is a pasta sauce. It’s a traditional-looking red – tomato-based – sauce that is a little chunkier than some less-expensive pasta sauces. The Barilla Bacon & Cheese Sauce is commonly found in the traditional 24 oz. glass jar.

Ease Of Preparation

Barilla’s Bacon & Cheese Sauce is a fully-prepared pasta sauce. To use, simply unscrew the vacuum-sealed metal cap, pour sauce into a pan and heat it up. Warmed to bubbling, the full flavor of the sauce is realized. Any unused portion may be refrigerated in the jar, with the cap tightly on!

Taste

The Barilla Bacon & Cheese Sauce smells fairly powerfully of tomatoes. The slightly acidic and fruity smell completely overcomes any aroma that may have come from either the meat or cheese in the sauce.

In the mouth, the Barilla Bacon & Cheese Sauce is sweet and entirely tomato flavored. In fact, the bacon pieces and any cheese that is in the Barilla Bacon & Cheese Sauce manifest as a texture more than any type of recognizable flavor. The sweet and salty tomato sauce does not taste bad, but it is in no way distinct or remarkable.

The Barilla Bacon & Cheese Sauce has a fairly sweet aftertaste, which lasts about thirty seconds.

Nutrition

The Barilla Bacon & Cheese Sauce is properly measured out in ½ cup servings. In each serving, there are, there are 100 calories. To get the full flavor of the sauce, I tended to use about two servings with each cup or cup and a half of pasta I made. So, it’s easy to rack up the calories with this sauce!

Made primarily of Tomato Puree, Sugar, and Uncured Cooked Bacon Crumble, the Barilla Bacon & Cheese Sauce! All of the ingredients in Barilla Bacon & Cheese Sauce are recognizable and seem pretty healthy. It is unsurprising that the cheese flavor does not actually come out in the flavor given how far down the ingredients list cheese is.

The Barilla Bacon & Cheese Sauce has 70 calories per serving, 15 from fat, Barilla Bacon & Cheese Sauce could be much worse on the health front. The 1.5 grams of fat represent 2% of the RDA of fat with one of those grams coming from saturated fat. Barilla Bacon & Cheese Sauce is cholesterol free and there is a whopping 20% of one’s RDA of Sodium in each serving. With 12 grams of total carbohydrates, only 1 of them in the form of fiber, the Barilla Bacon & Cheese Sauce is not ideal for dieters. The Barilla Bacon & Cheese Sauce has 2 grams of protein and 10% of the RDA of Vitamin A and 20% of the RDA of Vitamin C. There were no allergy warnings on the label, but because it contains real meat and cheese it is, obviously, not Vegan compliant or Kosher!

Storage/Clean-up

The Barilla Bacon & Cheese Sauce comes in a 24 oz. glass jar that makes storage easy. Simply refrigerate any unused portion and try to use within a week of originally opening.

As for clean-up, red pasta sauces are notorious for staining fabrics of all kinds. If you get any of the Barilla Bacon & Cheese Sauce on a fabric, try to rinse it immediately with cold water. Consult a fabric guide for specifics on how to get stains from tomato-based products out of your clothes or tablecloths (without ruining them) should the need arise. On non-porous surfaces, Barilla Bacon & Cheese Sauce easily wipes clean!

Overall

Unfortunately indistinct, the Barilla Bacon & Cheese Sauce is an adequate pasta sauce, but not one that lives up to its promised flavors.

For other food reviews, please visit my reviews of:
Prego Bacon & Provolone Italian Sauce
Williams Smoked Cheddar
BSN Syntha-6 Protein Crisp Chocolate Crunch Bars

4/10

For other food reviews, please check out my Food Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Betty Crocker Limited Edition Maple Bacon Frosting Is All Right.

The Good: Good flavor, Very easy to use, No storage issues
The Bad: Nutrition, Not the strongest maple flavor.
The Basics: Betty Crocker Maple Bacon Limited Edition frosting is all right, but not all that it could be.


I love maple sugar candy. I'm a big fan of maple sugar candy and I have had more bacon in the past year than in the prior thirty years of my life, largely because my wife is on a ketogenic diet. So, it was a pretty instant draw for me when I stumbled upon the Betty Crocker Limited Edition Maple Bacon frosting at my local grocery store. While the limited edition Maple Bacon frosting is good, it is not nearly enough to satisfy those who love maple sugar candy or even maple syrup.

Basics

Betty Crocker Limited Edition Maple Bacon frosting is a premade frosting produced by Betty Crocker. It is a frosting that is seasonally-available. The maple frosting is paired with a cap full of finely ground bacon bits to add the bacon flavoring to the maple frosting.

Betty Crocker’s Maple Bacon frosting comes in the company’s standard 16 oz. plastic can. The Maple Bacon frosting is caramel colored, creamy and the bacon is brown and looks like cookie crumbles. The container comes with an easy to snap on clear top that allows consumers to see the bacon and for one to reseal the leftovers for a limited amount of time.

Ease Of Preparation

Betty Crocker Limited Edition is a frosting, so there is not much needed in terms of preparation. Simply pop off the plastic cap, tear off the foil safety seal below that and consume! It is that simple. The top has a seal to keep the bacon in and separated.

Of course, most people use frosting as a component in baking as opposed to consuming on its own. For those who actually want to use this frosting to frost cookies or a cake, this is an exceptionally easy-to-use frosting. It spreads very easily and it does not get hard. The bacon bits need to be pressed into the top of the frosting and they stick in well.

Taste

Opening the container of Limited Edition Maple Bacon frosting, the aroma is strongly of maple syrup. The scent is instantly reminiscent of maple sugar candies and is inviting to anyone who loves maple syrup.

On the tongue, the Maple Bacon frosting is creamy and sweet. The somewhat generic sugary flavor is just a little deeper than plain vanilla frosting. The maple flavor within the frosting is nowhere near as strong as the aroma might have indicated. When the bacon crumbles are added to the frosting, the salty flavor actually manages to bring out more of the maple sugar flavor in the frosting. Beyond that, the basic frosting is only mildly maple flavored.

The aftertaste, however, is more strongly what one might expect of a maple frosting. The maple syrup flavor of the frosting comes through most in the aftertaste and it is delightful while that flavor lingers in the mouth. With the bacon bits in the Maple Bacon frosting, the aftertaste tastes salty and somewhat greasy; the perfect embodiment of maple bacon! It is a shame the flavor comes through most on the aftertaste.

Nutrition

Obviously, as a frosting, Betty Crocker cannot help consumers much on the nutrition front. Given that the frosting is made largely of sugar, palm oil and water, this was never going to be a nutritious product. There are various artificial colors and preservatives, so this is not an all-natural product. This contains allergy warnings for milk and is, obviously, not vegan-compliant.

It is also not the best product in the world for you on a nutrition front, though it is gluten free. A 2 Tbsp serving of Betty Crocker’s Limited Edition Maple Bacon frosting has 140 calories, 45 of which are from fat. Those 5 grams of fat represent 8% of one’s RDA of tat. Unsurprisingly, one serving is 8% of your RDA of carbohydrates and there is no protein in this frosting. There are, however, 95 mg of sodium in the frosting. This is not a food to try to live off of.

Storage/Cleanup

Keep the frosting sealed and it will last for quite some time. The container we bought after Thanksgiving would have expired on August 6, 2016, had we not opened and used it all before then! This frosting remains supple and spreadable for quite some time, even if the leftovers have been refrigerated.

As a product made mostly of sugar, the Limited Edition Maple Bacon frosting is very easy to clean up. Simply washing it off with hot water helps clean off anything this gets on. This is a light frosting, though, so it must be washed out fast of lighter clothes/fabrics.

Overall

The Maple Bacon Betty Crocker Limited Edition Maple Bacon frosting is good and worth trying, but not so exceptional that one has to go out and stock up on it; if you miss it this year, Betty Crocker will probably bring it back next year.

For other foods, please check out my reviews of:
Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy Chocolate frosting
Solid Gold Bars Ginger Cacao! Bars
Lay's Korean Barbecue Potato Chips

5/10

For other food reviews, please visit my Food Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Flavorful And Fun, Wild Bill's Bacon Jerky Is Still Expensive!

The Good: Taste good, Low calorie, Easy to eat!
The Bad: Expense, Very high in fat!
The Basics: Wild Bill’s Bacon Jerky is a surprisingly delicious treat that lives up to the promise of its name!


Every now and then, I like to surprise my wife with something that I think that she will truly enjoy. She is on a low carb diet at this point, so finding good snacks for her has been a pain in my butt the last few months. However, when I saw the Wild Bill's Bacon Jerky at the store where I was buying a new litterbox for my cats, I knew it would be the right thing to pick up for both my wife and I. And it has been! Despite the expense of the Wild Bill's Bacon Jerky, it is a treat that satisfies enough for consumers to wish that there was more of it!

I found the 3 oz. pack locally for $5.99, which is pretty steep as far as I'm concerned. That said, it is a wonderful treat for those who are on a Keyto diet.

Basics

Wild Bill’s is a manufacturer of meat products like jerky. The intent of the Wild Bill’s beef jerky is for the meat snacks to be their own snack, not a component (in contrast to something like uncooked meat or pepperoni, which tend to be ingredients or garnish to other recipes).

Wild Bill’s’s Bacon Jerky is a processed meat product. The package I bought contained about forty pieces of bacon, both 1/4 strip (no more than two inches long and 3/4" wide), though most of them were broken up significantly smaller than that. That is, supposedly, three full servings. The bag also has a packet of silica in it, so it is highly recommended one not shotgun a package of this jerky!

Ease Of Preparation

Wild Bill’s Bacon Jerky is a processed meat product, so basically, one opens bag and starts eating the pieces. This requires no refrigeration after opening, but between my wife, me, and the animals in the house begging for it, the Wild Bill's Bacon Jerky does not last long enough around here to ever raise the question of needing refrigeration!

Taste

Wild Bill’s Bacon Jerky has a surprisingly mild aroma to it. In fact, I was surprised by how little scent the meat strips have. They forshadow a very weak jerky.

Fortunately, the Bacon Jerky is powerful enough on the flavor front to excuse the lack of aroma. Despite the lack of a strong scent, every bite, every piece of bacon dust, every full piece and every shard of Bacon Jerky tastes salty and fatty and exactly like cold bacon. It is wonderful and fully flavored as anyone who loves bacon will instantly recognize!

Nutrition

Wild Bill’s Bacon Jerky is a poor choice for balanced nutrition. A serving size is considered one ounce, but unless one is walking around with a scale, that is very hard to regulate. In the recommended serving, there are only 110 calories, 70 of which are from fat. This snack has 13% of one's daily recommended saturated fat intake and a stifling 27% of the RDA of sodium. On the plus side, it also has eleven grams of protein.

This is not Gluten-free nor not marked as Kosher (duh, it's bacon!). This meat snack is made primarily of bacon cured with water, salt and sugar. That makes it mostly natural, but it does have a couple of preservatives that are not natural. The fact that sugar is so high on the ingredient list is unsurprising considering how addictive this meat treat is!

Storage/Cleanup

My package of Wild Bill’s Bacon Jerky was supposed to remain soft and tender until the third of June, 2016, but it will be long gone before then!

Bacon Jerky is a meat product, but given how fatty bacon is, the bacon jerky is a little greasier than beef jerky. As a result, contact with light fabrics has the potential to stain.

Overall

Wild Bill’s Bacon Jerky is flavorful and delivers on its promise of being a very different meat jerky, but it is more expensive than its competitors!

For other meaty snacks reviews, please check out my takes on:
Hormel Turkey Pepperoni Stix
Oberto Cocktail Pep Smoked Sausage Sticks
Duke's House Of Meats Stubb's Spicy Bar-B-Q Beef Brisket Strips

6.5/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my Food And Drink Review Index Page!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Spicier Than They Are Meaty: Oberto Cocktail Pep Smoked Sausage Sticks Still Satisfy!

The Good: Taste good, High protein
The Bad: Expense, Not terribly nutritious.
The Basics: Oberto Cocktail Pep Smoked Sausage Sticks are a high-calorie, protein rich snack that has a surprising peppery kick to them.


Lately, my wife has been exploring a Keytogenic diet. To help her, I've tried to find snacks that she can eat: ones that are low-carb, but higher in protein and have an average amount of fat. I seem to have found one she likes for a quick pick-me-up in the form of Oberto Cocktail Pep Smoked Sausage Sticks.

Basics

Oberto is a manufacturer of meat products like pepperoni and jerky. The intent of the Oberto Stix is for the meat snacks to be their own snack, not a component (like pepperoni traditionally is).

Oberto’s Cocktail Pep Smoked Sausage Sticks are a processed meat product. The 40 oz. bulk package contains dozens of 8" sticks that are each 1/2” in diameter. The individual sticks are not individually wrapped, so these snacks have a minimal environmental impact, which is nice. We found ours at the local discount store for $8.99 for the bulk package, which is not a bad price for such an item!

Ease Of Preparation

Oberto Cocktail Pep Smoked Sausage Sticks are a processed meat product, so basically, one opens the package and they begin devouring them. These do not require refrigeration, though an airtight package is recommended.

Taste

The Oberto Cocktail Pep Smoked Sausage Sticks have a spicy, beefy scent to them. The aroma is evocative of pepperoni. The meat stick does not have a powerful scent, at least not after the package has been opened for a few minutes.

The Cocktail Pep Smoked Sausage Sticks are surprisingly peppery. In fact, more than the salty, beef flavor, the Smoked Sausage Sticks are overwhelmed with the flavors of garlic and black pepper. That gives the initially greasy meat sticks with a grainy texture to the center (beyond the skin) a strong, spicy flavor. As one who is not usually drawn to spicy hot foods, the fact that these sticks left my lips peppery was a little bit of a drawback to me.

The Cocktail Pep Smoked Sausage Sticks leave a strongly pepper-flavored aftertaste in the mouth.

Nutrition

Oberto Cocktail Pep Smoked Sausage Sticks are a fairly poor choice for balanced nutrition. A serving size is considered one meat stick. In the recommended serving, there are 130 calories, 100 of which are from fat. This snack has 23% of one's daily recommended saturated fat intake and 16% of the RDA of sodium. On the plus side, it does have six grams of protein.

These are not marked as Gluten-free, nor marked as Kosher (I’m not sure why, the ingredient list does not indicate what might violate that diet). This meat snack is made primarily of pork hearts, beef, and pork. That makes it mostly natural, but it does have preservatives that are not natural.

Storage/Cleanup

The Cocktail Pep Smoked Sausage Sticks have a long shelf life; our two plus pound package would have lasted until mid-2016 had my wife not consumed them.

Cocktail Pep Smoked Sausage Sticks are a meat product, so they are not going to stain or ruin anything unless it is a light or papery material, given how greasy they are. Baring that, cleanup of nonporous surfaces is as easy as wiping them with a damp cloth.

Overall

Oberto Cocktail Pep Smoked Sausage Sticks are very average and for those who do not like peppery meat, these might surprise those who like something more mild.

For other meat snacks reviews, please check out my takes on:
Duke's House Of Meats Stubb's Spicy Bar-B-Q Beef Brisket Strips
Hormel Hard Salami Stix
Pecos Bill's Terayaki Beef Jerky

5/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my Food And Drink Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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One Of The Best Pasta Sauces Ever! Prego Bacon & Provolone

The Good: Wonderful taste, Generally good ingredients, Price
The Bad: High calorie, Could be saltier/less sweet.
The Basics: Trying my hand at sauce reviews, I have high hopes that Prego will keep its Bacon & Provolone Italian Sauce around!


Last summer, my wife and I tried to help my youngest brother-in-law out by having him move in with us for a time so he could save some money in a low-pressure environment. It was an interesting experience all around and we accomplished some of our goals with him. In opening up our home to him, we tried to make sure he had free reign of the kitchen and our pantry and we made sure his significant other felt welcome to come over and spend time with him at our apartment. There were very few times they actually spent time hanging out at the apartment and one of them led to the only time I actually got mad at the pair of them. Days prior, my wife and I had discovered at the grocery store a new pasta (Italian) sauce: Prego Bacon & Provolone! My curiosity was piqued and we bought a jar. However, before I could try the Prego Bacon & Provolone Italian Sauce, my brother in law used it when making pasta for him and his girlfriend. The insult to injury here was that she had a bite or two before she was “filled up” and most of the pasta and its sauce went to waste.

The reason this story is relevant is simple: I spent the rest of the year either unable to find or unable to afford the Prego Bacon & Provolone Italian Sauce when I could find it. With all new food products that hit the market, there is a high potential for failure; I was worried that Prego would discontinue the Bacon & Provolone Italian Sauce before I had a chance to try it. Now that I actually managed to find another jar in my area, I decided to review it with a pretty singular purpose: to save it from discontinuation! Usually, I write my reviews without any agenda, just trying to detail my experiences to help consumers make an informed decision about a product before they spend their hard-earned money on it. However, with Prego Bacon & Provolone Italian Sauce, my agenda is just a little different: I am hoping that my review will be enough to prevent the Campbell Soup Company from prematurely discontinuing the product. The truth is, Prego Bacon & Provolone Italian Sauce is not perfect. But, it’s very good and it deserves a fair shot to have more people try it and keep finding new uses for it and enjoyment from it. Far too often, companies give such products a Quarter to either become the next big thing or get discontinued. Provolone is an acquired taste, most consumers are unlikely to believe that an Italian Sauce found on the supermarket shelf has real bacon in it; Prego Bacon & Provolone Italian Sauce is real good and worth keeping around so people can learn that for themselves!

Basics

Prego Bacon & Provolone Italian Sauce is what used to be known as a pasta sauce. It’s a traditional-looking red – tomato-based – sauce that was new-to-the-market in Summer 2013. All of the jars of this that I have found still say “New!” on the label. The Prego Bacon & Provolone Italian Sauce is commonly found in the traditional 24 oz. glass jar.

Ease Of Preparation

Prego’s Bacon & Provolone Italian Sauce is a fully-prepared pasta sauce. To use, simply unscrew the vacuum-sealed metal cap, pour sauce into a pan and heat it up. Warmed to bubbling, the full flavor of the sauce is realized. Any unused portion may be refrigerated in the jar, with the cap tightly on!

Taste

The Prego Bacon & Provolone Sauce smells strongly of provolone cheese. Anyone who knows the salty, somewhat curdled smell of provolone cheese and the even saltier, meaty aroma of bacon, will salivate at the scent of this sauce.

On the tongue, the Prego Bacon & Provolone Sauce is sweet and appropriately tomato flavored. This is a sweet sauce primarily, but then it turns after about three seconds in the mouth. Then, the saltiness of the bacon chunks in the sauce asserts its flavor. When that happens, the meaty flavor of the sauce actually dominates over the usual tomato flavor. The cheese, slightly smoky, and distinctly that of provolone, asserts itself only an aftertaste.

The cheesy aftertaste lasts only about thirty seconds. After that, the mouth again takes on a sweet flavor as an enduring aftertaste.

Nutrition

As one who has really started to pay attention to such things only recently, one of the detractions to the Prego Bacon & Provolone Italian Sauce is the high amount of sugar in it. Instead of being a saltier sauce, Prego went for sweet (are they courting children instead of adults with this? If so, that’s disappointing!). As a result, this is a high calorie Italian Sauce. One seldom notices just how high calorie this type product is until they are actually minding their calories, but in a ½ cup serving, there are 100 calories. To get the full flavor of the sauce, I tended to use at least two servings per cup (uncooked) of pasta I made. So, it’s easy to rack up the calories with this sauce!

That the Prego Bacon & Provolone Italian Sauce is more sweet than salty is unsurprising when one looks over the ingredients. Made primarily of Tomato Puree, Sugar, and Bacon Bits, I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of extensive or recognizable preservatives in the Prego Bacon & Provolone Italian Sauce! All of the ingredients in Prego Bacon & Provolone Italian Sauce are recognizable and seem pretty healthy.

Despite the ½ cup serving being unrealistically small, the Prego Bacon & Provolone Italian Sauce is not generally bad for that amount. With 100 calories per serving, 25 from fat, Prego Bacon & Provolone Italian Sauce could be much worse on the health front. The 3 grams of fat represent 5% of the RDA of fat with one of those grams coming from saturated fat. 2% of one’s RDA of cholesterol are found in a serving, as is a whopping 20% of one’s RDA of Sodium (which is unfortunate for how salty this sauce does not taste!). With 15 grams of total carbohydrates, only 3 of them in the form of fiber, the Prego Bacon & Provolone Italian Sauce is not terrible for dieters. The Prego Bacon & Provolone Italian Sauce has 3 grams of protein and 10% of the RDA of Vitamin A. It is not a significant source of any other nutrients, though it has a smattering of Vitamin, Calcium and Iron. There were no allergy warnings on the label, but because it contains real meat and cheese it is, obviously, not Vegan compliant or Kosher!

Storage/Clean-up

The Prego Bacon & Provolone Italian Sauce comes in a 24 oz. glass jar that makes storage easy. Simply refrigerate any unused portion and try to use within a week of originally opening.

As for clean-up, red pasta sauces are notorious for staining fabrics of all kinds. If you get any of the Prego Bacon & Provolone Italian Sauce on a fabric, try to rinse it immediately with cold water. Consult a fabric guide for specifics on how to get stains from tomato-based products out of your clothes or tablecloths (without ruining them) should the need arise. On non-porous surfaces, Prego Bacon & Provolone Italian Sauce easily wipes clean!

Overall

Well worth the wait, Prego Bacon & Provolone Italian Sauce might not be the ultimate embodiment of the flavors it possesses, but it contains the very real and true flavors of both bacon and provolone cheese. That alone puts it well above most Italian Sauces found on the market and should be allowed to achieve reasonable market penetration so others might delight in one of the most flavorful pasta sauces I have ever tried!

For other food reviews, please visit my reviews of:
New Bridge Mediterranean Cheddar Cheese
Duke's House Of Meats Stubb's Spicy Bar-B-Q Beef Brisket Strips
Marathon Smart Stuff Crunchy Chocolate Crisp Snack Bar

8.5/10

For other food reviews, please check out my Food Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Not Quite Enough To Thrill Bacon Lovers, Chuao Chocolatier Maple Bacon Bars Are Still Enjoyable!

The Good: Great taste, Wonderful quality, Does not melt easily
The Bad: Not strongly flavored of bacon, Still expensive.
The Basics: Chuao Chocolatier Maple Bacon Bars are good, but not for their embodiment of bacon.


Despite being atheists, my wife and I do our best to show our love for one another, even on holidays that are not innate to us. As a result, yesterday, my amazing wife showered me with gifts and as it turned out a number of them were food (especially chocolates) that she picked up for me to enjoy . . . and review. There is something exceptionally sweet (pun intended) about a woman who provides me with candy to review, even though neither candy nor my reviews are truly her favorite things. So, to show her how much I appreciate the gift, I thought I would right away prioritize trying one of the chocolates she picked up for me. The first one I leapt on, the one I was most excited to try, was the Chuao Chocolatier Maple Bacon chocolate bars she picked up for me. The Chuao Chocolatier Maple Bacon Bars are good, but neither of us found them to be a very true embodiment of bacon flavor.

This was my first experience with Chuao Chocolatier chocolate bars and it is clear the company is providing a premium product (given how expensive the bars are). If they were more bacony in their flavoring, they would have easily been a perfect product (the chocolate is wonderful and the maple flavor is present).

Basics

The Chuao Chocolatier Maple Bacon Bar is a filled milk chocolate bar from Chuao Chocolatier. Each 2.8 oz. chocolate bar is wrapped in a metallic plastic wrapper. The actual chocolate bar is 3” wide by 6” long by 3/8” thick and features an imprint of leaves and a stamp identifying the bar as being from Chuao Chocolatier. There are no segments and I was surprised by how the bottom of the bar was smooth; the filling does not make the bar textured anywhere!

The chocolate is very light, but decently solid. Individually, the bars are on the $5.00 - $10.00 range, which is super expensive, until one considers just how delicious these chocolate bars are!

Ease Of Preparation

Chuao Chocolatier Maple Bacon bars are chocolate, not preparing a chocolate fountain! Preparing them is as easy as unwrapping the candy bar. Because the chocolate is so pricy, I recommend eating this a little at a time, not just biting right into the bar.

Taste

The Maple Bacon chocolate bar is delightfully aromatic; the bar smells strongly of chocolate, without a hint as to what the flavors within the bar might be. The chocolate smells like a decent grade of cocoa, without alluding to being milk chocolate, either.

On the tongue, Chuao provides a real mixed bag with the Maple Bacon chocolate bar. The chocolate is thick and sweet, without at all overwhelming the tastebuds; this tastes like chocolate, not the milky, vaguely-sweet crap that mass-produced chocolate has become. Instead, this is sweet and rich without being dry or at all unpleasant on the tongue; it is a firm, flavorful milk chocolate. As the chocolate rests on the tongue and slowly melts away, the sweetness of the maple flavoring comes out; the sugary-sweet flavor is distinctive enough to assert itself from within the chocolate bar and let the consumer know they are eating something intriguing and more than just a high-quality chocolate bar.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the bacon. The bacon flavor is not able to overcome the sweetness and the crispy pieces of bacon in the bar do not carry the flavor of bacon and/or bacon grease well enough to satisfy those who love bacon. Instead, there is a vaguely salty flavor that comes out when one chews the candy bar, but it is not quite strong enough to prove to the consumer that it is actually bacon in the bar.

The Maple Bacon bar has a slightly dry aftertaste that lingers on the tongue for about five minutes after one is done consuming the bar.

Nutrition

Chuao Chocolatier makes their fine chocolates with fine ingredients, which is arguably why they are so expensive. With the primary ingredients being Premium milk chocolate (41% cacoa), maple sugar, and bacon, the Chuao Chocolatier Maple Bacon bars are not a wonderful food to try to survive on. However, they do use natural ingredients and Non-GMO ingredients and none of them are unpronounceable. In a 1.4 ounce serving, there are 210 calories, 120 of which are from fat. This represents 21% of one’s RDA of fat (41% of the RDA of saturated fat). Each bar has 140 mg of Sodium (mostly in the bacon, one assumes) and 3 grams of protein. In other words, this is not a snack to try to survive on.

Storage/Clean-Up

Because the chocolate is so hard, the Chuao Chocolatier Maple Bacon bars are not especially susceptible to heat. Still, these should be kept cool in order to not melt. With that in mind, as long as they are kept cool and dry, these will last over a year (the one my wife presented me with yesterday would have lasted until October 12, 2014).

Clean-up is easy, so long as the chocolate does not melt. The Chuao Chocolatier Maple Bacon bars have wrappers that ought to be properly disposed of, but otherwise, the chocolate washes off skin and non-porous surfaces. It the chocolate melts onto fabric, consult a fabric guide.

Overall

The Chuao Chocolatier Maple Bacon Bar is a delightful chocolate and maple confection, but the bacon flavor is not strong enough to please those who would buy the bar for that flavor.

For other fancy candies, please check out my reviews of:
Lindt Pistachio Nut Bars
Ferrara Milk Chocolate Peppermint Chocolate Orange
Godiva White Chocolate Vanilla Bean bar

7/10

For more food reviews, please check out my Food Review Index Page!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A Yummy Meat Treat That’s Surprisingly Nutritious! Duke’s House Of Meats Stubb’s Spicy Bar-B-Q Beef Brisket Strips

The Good: Tastes good, Low calorie, Comparatively low sodium, Good ingredients
The Bad: Expense, though it’s not unreasonably pricy.
The Basics: Easily one of the best meat treats I’ve ever had, Duke’s House Of Meats Stubb’s Spicy Bar-B-Q Beef Brisket Strips is wonderful and pretty close to affordable!


While Myah – my Siberian Husky – is at the vets for the night recovering from her being spayed, I’m trying to get through reviews of things I can’t usually get through when she is around. Tonight, that means Duke’s House Of Meats Stubb’s Spicy Bar-B-Q Beef Brisket Strips. And, I just discovered my cat Gollum has only been quiet about some of these meat treats because Myah has been around! No sooner did I open the bag then Gollum let me know in no uncertain terms that he was interested in the food!

I found the 3 oz. pack on clearance for $2.49 (regularly $4.99!) tucked away at one of the local grocery stores and picked it up because I’ve been enjoying expanding my reviews to meat products. The expense and environmental impact from keeping the serving size so small makes it very hard to justify the expense (which, to be fair to Duke’s House Of Meats, is actually better than many of the competitors I have found lately!).

Basics

Duke’s House Of Meats is a manufacturer of meat products like jerky, which is essentially what these beef brisket strips are. The intent of the Duke’s House Of Meats beef brisket strips is for the meat snacks to be their own snack, not a component (in contrast to something like uncooked meat or pepperoni, which tend to be ingredients or garnish to other recipes).

Duke’s House Of Meats’s Stubb’s Spicy Bar-B-Q Beef Brisket Strips is a processed meat product. The package I bought contained about fifteen pieces (with very few meat crumbs) that averaged 4” long by 1" wide and 1/8-1/4” thick. There are, supposedly, three full servings in the bag. The bag also has a packet of silica in it, so it is highly recommended one not shotgun a package of this dried beef snack!

Ease Of Preparation

Duke’s House Of Meats Stubb’s Spicy Bar-B-Q Beef Brisket Strips is a processed meat product, so basically, one opens bag and starts eating the pieces. This requires refrigeration after opening or for one to eat up the bag within three days, but between Gollum and I, the bag is going pretty fast!!

Taste

The Duke’s House Of Meats Stubb’s Spicy Bar-B-Q Beef Brisket Strips smell like tomatoes and mesquite. This is a masculine, meaty scent with a surprisingly sweet afterscent! These strips do not have an excessively meaty aroma, though there is the hint of it beneath the stronger scent of barbeque sauce.

Interestingly, the Stubb’s Spicy Bar-B-Q Beef Brisket Strips have almost no salt to the primary flavor. There is a strong flavor of Worchester sauce and barbecue sauce. Chewing or sucking on the strips, the tomato and mustard spices fade away and the taste of dried beef asserts itself completely. These strips are not drenched in either salt or sauce in a way that obscures the meaty flavor of the strips beneath the flavoring.

Even after the meat is gone, there is a delightful pepper aftertaste!

Nutrition

Duke’s House Of Meats Stubb’s Spicy Bar-B-Q Beef Brisket Strips is not a bad choice for balanced nutrition. A serving size is considered one ounce, but unless one is walking around with a scale, that is very hard to regulate. In the recommended serving, there are only 90 calories, 40 of which are from fat. This snack has only 9% of one's daily recommended saturated fat intake, but only 12% of the RDA of sodium. On the plus side, it also has a decent ten grams of protein.

This is not Gluten-free, nor marked as Kosher (I’m not sure why, the ingredient list does not indicate what might violate that diet). This meat snack is made primarily of beef, Stubb’s Spicy Bar-b-q Sauce, and ground red pepper. That makes it mostly natural and it contains soy for those who have that dietary concern!

Storage/Cleanup

My package of Duke’s House Of Meats Stubb’s Spicy Bar-B-Q Beef Brisket Strips was supposed to remain soft and tender until September 25 of this year, but there is no way that Gollum will let that happen!

Stubb’s Spicy Bar-B-Q Beef Brisket Strips are a meat product, so they are not going to stain or ruin anything unless it is a light or papery material, though these beef brisket strips are not even particularly greasy. Cleanup of nonporous surfaces is as easy as wiping them with a damp cloth.

Overall

Duke’s House Of Meats Stubb’s Spicy Bar-B-Q Beef Brisket Strips are flat-out delightful. Any time I can get more – especially on clearance – I know I will pick up more!

For other meat snacks reviews, please check out my takes on:
Hormel Hard Salami Stix
Pecos Bill's Teriyaki Beef Jerky
Hormel Turkey Pepperoni Stix

9/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Less Flavorful And Nutritious, Hormel Hard Salami Stix Flop.

The Good: These do not taste bad.
The Bad: Bland, Not at all healthy, Expense, Environmental impact.
The Basics: A poor meat treat, Hormel Hard Salami Stix are not quite worth picking up.


When I start reviewing a new (to me) type product, I truly do leap into it wholeheartedly. This month, in addition to reviewing cheeses, which have been one of the review types I brought with me from the site I used to write for, I have now started reviewing meats. That actually began with my review of Hormel Turkey Pepperoni Stix (reviewed here!) and when I picked those up, I also picked up the Hormel Hard Salami Stix that I am now reviewing. Unfortunately, the Hard Salami Stix did not grab me and looking over the nutrition facts on the package, I became more dismayed.

I found the 3.75 oz. (5-stick) pack on clearance for $1.99 (regularly $3.99) and picked it up. In addition to not having the most vibrant or interesting taste, the health aspects, the expense and environmental impact of it makes it impossible to recommend the Hard Salami Stix.

Basics

Hormel is a manufacturer of meat products like pepperoni and jerky. The intent of the Hormel Stix is for the meat snacks to be their own snack, not a component (like pepperoni traditionally is).

Hormel’s Hard Salami Stix are a processed meat product. The package contains five 5 1/2" sticks that are each 1/2” in diameter. The individual sticks have easy to open wrappers that peel open, like cheese sticks. The five Stix are connected with perforated wrappers that make them very easy to separate. At a regular price of almost $1.00/ea., with such unenvironmentally responsible wrappings, it is hard for a cheap, healthy, environmentalist to justify these meaty snacks.

Ease Of Preparation

Hormel Hard Salami Stix are a processed meat product, so basically, one opens wrapper and they begin devouring them. These are supposed to be refrigerated after opening, but given that they are each a single serving, they can be easily consumed in one sitting.

Taste

The Hormel Hard Salami Stix made me realize what a distinctive scent salami has to it. It doesn’t smell like pepperoni or bologna; it is its own meaty scent that defines its own flavor and aroma. Predictably, Hormel Hard Salami Stix have exactly that scent.

On the tongue, Hormel’s Hard Salami Stix are not terribly hard and their initial flavor is overwhelmed by the very bland casing that makes them taste more like a cold hot dog than anything else. Inside the casing, the Hard Salami sticks are meaty and salty and they taste like a slightly saltier and greasier version of salami than I can recall. The flavor is pretty much exactly what one expects from salami, except a little saltier.

Nutrition

Hormel Hard Salami Stix are a terrible choice for balanced nutrition. A serving size is considered one meat stick. In the recommended serving, there are 90 calories, 70(!) of which are from fat. This snack has 15% of one's daily recommended saturated fat intake and 15% of the RDA of sodium. On the plus side, it does have four grams of protein.

These are Gluten-free, but not marked as Kosher (I’m not sure why, the ingredient list does not indicate what might violate that diet, unless the collagen casing is what does it?). This meat snack is made primarily of beef and pork, salt and dextrose. That makes it mostly natural, but it does have preservatives that are not natural.

Storage/Cleanup

I’m not sure how long these last because I purchased them on clearance as they would have expired today. I would be surprised if these actually had a very short shelf life, given how salty they are and how many preservatives they have.

Hard Salami Stix are a meat product and given how greasy they are, they will undoubtedly stain clothes, especially light ones. Barring that, cleanup of nonporous surfaces is as easy as wiping them with a damp cloth. Also, unless one eats them right out of the package, the Hard Salami Stix necessitate the washing of one’s hands after they are done consuming them.

Overall

Hormel Hard Salami Stix simply did not grab me and lacks nutritional elements to make a difference, making it easy to not recommend.

For other salty snacks reviews, please check out my takes on:
Pecos Bill’s Teriyaki Beef Jerky
Yancy’s Fancy Steakhouse Onion Cheddar
Totino’s Pepperoni Pizza Chips

2.5/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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I Enjoy Pecos Bill’s Teriyaki Beef Jerky, But I Think Myah Loves It More!

The Good: Taste good, Low calorie
The Bad: Expense, Exceptionally high in sodium!
The Basics: A good once-in-a-while meat treat, Pecos Bill’s Teriyaki Beef Jerky is a delicious treat for human and canine alike!


If I had enough money and heart that could stand it, I would probably eat Pecos Bill’s Teriyaki Beef Jerky every day. So would my dog, Myah, who has been going absolutely crazy since I opened my bag of the beef jerky ten minutes ago. She has had two pieces already (to my one) and when I tell her that it is far too expensive for me to use as a dog treat, she looks at me with her big, blue, Siberian Husky eyes with an expression that says, “I do not understand this money of which you speak, but may I please have another one of those delightful meat blobs that I can still smell from three feet away?” Damn, she’s cute. Three to one.

I found the 3 oz. pack on clearance for $2.49 (regularly $4.99!) tucked away at one of the local grocery stores and picked it up thinking that if I tried it and did not enjoy it, Myah could benefit. She is taking a much more proactive approach to the process. Despite how much I enjoyed this sodium-packed, flavorful, not-terribly-healthy snack, the expense and environmental impact from keeping the serving size so small makes it very hard to justify the expense (which, to be fair to Pecos Bill, is a value reduced by my canine companion!).

Basics

Pecos Bill’s is a manufacturer of meat products like jerky. The intent of the Pecos Bill’s beef jerky is for the meat snacks to be their own snack, not a component (in contrast to something like uncooked meat or pepperoni, which tend to be ingredients or garnish to other recipes).

Pecos Bill’s’s Teriyaki Beef Jerky is a processed meat product. The package I bought contained twenty pieces (plus a bunch of meat crumbs) that averaged 1” long by 1/2" wide and 1/8” thick. That is, supposedly, three full servings. The bag also has a packet of silica in it, so it is highly recommended one not shotgun a package of this jerky!

Ease Of Preparation

Pecos Bill’s Teriyaki Beef Jerky is a processed meat product, so basically, one opens bag and starts eating the pieces. This requires no refrigeration after opening, but given that Myah is barely letting me get through this review with the contents of the bag, I cannot imagine there would have been any left by the time I would go to the refrigerator with the bag!

Taste

The Pecos Bill’s Teriyaki Beef Jerky smells appropriately like teriyaki, salty and smoky in a way that is instantly inviting to anyone who likes seasoned meat.

Appropriately, the Teriyaki Beef Jerky has the salty, soy-sauce flavor one might expect with the slightly sweet kick to it that defines it as Teriyaki. Lingering on the tongue, the salty aspects of the flavor dissipate and the meaty, distinctly beef flavor of the jerky comes out, washing over the tongue in a very satisfying way. Despite the initial salty flavor, this beef jerky has a very sweet flavor to it and it does not leave a dry aftertaste in one’s mouth.

Nutrition

Pecos Bill’s Teriyaki Beef Jerky is a poor choice for balanced nutrition. A serving size is considered one ounce, but unless one is walking around with a scale, that is very hard to regulate. In the recommended serving, there are only 80 calories, 5 of which are from fat. This snack has only .5% of one's daily recommended saturated fat intake, but a whopping 33% of the RDA of sodium. On the plus side, it also has an excessive thirteen grams of protein.

This is not Gluten-free, but not marked as Kosher (I’m not sure why, the ingredient list does not indicate what might violate that diet). This meat snack is made primarily of beef, water, and sugar. That makes it mostly natural, but it does have plenty of preservatives that are not natural. The fact that sugar is so high on the ingredient list is unsurprising considering how addictive this meat treat is!

Storage/Cleanup

My package of Pecos Bill’s Teriyaki Beef Jerky was supposed to remain soft and tender until the 16th of November of this year, but there is no way that Myah will let that happen!

Teriyaki Beef Jerky are a meat product, so they are not going to stain or ruin anything unless it is a light or papery material, though this beef jerky is not even particularly greasy. Cleanup of nonporous surfaces is as easy as wiping them with a damp cloth.

Overall

Pecos Bill’s Teriyaki Beef Jerky is very good and it is addictive to eat, which might be why Myah is jonesing for more right now and I’m right there with her. Fortunately, neither of us can afford this at regular price or she would probably gorge herself (though she has been good about getting water after consuming some) and my heart would probably explode from consuming it. But as a once-in-a-while treat, especially when we travel, it will be hard not to pick up more Pecos Bill’s Teriyaki Beef Jerky if I ever see it on clearance again!

For other salty snacks reviews, please check out my takes on:
Hormel Turkey Pepperoni Stix
Yancy’s Fancy Steakhouse Onion Cheddar
Totino’s Pepperoni Pizza Chips

6/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Almost Flavorful Enough To Make One Forget It’s Turkey, Hormel Turkey Pepperoni Stix Are Good!

The Good: Taste good, Low calorie
The Bad: Expense, Environmental impact.
The Basics: A decent meat treat, Hormel Turkey Pepperoni Stix are a low-calorie, protein rich snack.


It’s actually surprising to me how few salty snacks I have reviewed. Actually, that does not surprise me a whole lot; as part of getting myself healthy, I have attempted to lower my sodium intake. I have, traditionally, not worried about sodium or any other component in my diet. However, the desire to improve my heart health and lose the paunch I gained two winters ago has led me to drinking more water, consuming less salt and generally lowering my caloric intake. So, it was very much the fact that they were on sale that led me to buy the Hormel Turkey Pepperoni Stix that I bought for consumption and review.

I found the 3.75 oz. (5-stick) pack on clearance for $1.99 (regularly $3.99) and picked it up. Despite how much I enjoyed this salty, not-terribly-healthy snack, the expense and environmental impact of it makes it very hard to justify the expense.

Basics

Hormel is a manufacturer of meat products like pepperoni and jerky. The intent of the Hormel Stix is for the meat snacks to be their own snack, not a component (like pepperoni traditionally is).

Hormel’s Turkey Pepperoni Stix are a processed meat product. The package contains five 5 1/2" sticks that are each 1/2” in diameter. The individual sticks have easy to open wrappers that peel open, like cheese sticks. The five Stix are connected with perforated wrappers that make them very easy to separate. At a regular price of almost $1.00/ea., with such unenvironmentally responsible wrappings, it is hard for a cheap, healthy, environmentalist to justify these meaty snacks.

Ease Of Preparation

Hormel Turkey Pepperoni Stix are a processed meat product, so basically, one opens wrapper and they begin devouring them. These are supposed to be refrigerated after opening, but given that they are each a single serving, they can be easily consumed in one sitting. . . . especially if one owns a dog or cat that sits there begging them from you!

Taste

The Hormel Turkey Pepperoni Stix has a spicy, peppered smell to it. The salty, meaty scent is instantly reminiscent of meat snacks like Slim Jims and there is not even the hint of turkey in the aroma to this snack.

In fact, the scent is so robust and spicy that the initial flavor of the Turkey Pepperoni Stix is surprisingly bland. The outer casing of the Turkey Pepperoni Stix is greasy, but not even overly salted. The moment the casing ruptured, the flavor is not just salty and generically meaty. Instead, the flavor is precisely that of good pepperoni. The first bite might taste like a cold hot dog, but almost instantaneously, the flavor turns to clove, salt and garlic. This is the defining flavor mix of pepperoni and these Stix are delightful for how well they embody that.

Nutrition

Hormel Turkey Pepperoni Stix are a particularly poor choice for balanced nutrition. A serving size is considered one meat stick. In the recommended serving, there are 50 calories, 25 of which are from fat. This snack has 5% of one's daily recommended saturated fat intake and 20% of the RDA of sodium. On the plus side, it does have six grams of protein.

These are Gluten-free, but not marked as Kosher (I’m not sure why, the ingredient list does not indicate what might violate that diet). This meat snack is made primarily of dark turkey meat, salt and spices. That makes it mostly natural, but it does have preservatives that are not natural.

Storage/Cleanup

I’m not sure how long these last because I purchased them on clearance as they would have expired today. I would be surprised if these actually had a very short shelf life, given how salty they are and how many preservatives they have.

Turkey Pepperoni Stix are a meat product, so they are not going to stain or ruin anything unless it is a light or papery material, given how greasy they are. Baring that, cleanup of nonporous surfaces is as easy as wiping them with a damp cloth.

Overall

Hormel Turkey Pepperoni Stix are good, but not particularly healthy or inexpensive, making them tough to recommend. But on taste alone, they are very much worth trying.

For other salty snacks reviews, please check out my takes on:
Yancy’s Fancy Steakhouse Onion Cheddar
Totino’s Pepperoni Pizza Chips
Orville Redenbacher's Butter Gourmet Popcorn

4.5/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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