The next review on Tillamook Country Smoker will be on a 3 ounce/85 gram bag of their Natural Style sea salt & peppered flavor. The Tillamook Country Smoker team kindly submitted this jerky for review.
Fifty years ago Art Crossley started selling jerky in Oregon. Art teamed up with his friend Crawford Smith and wife Shirley, along with a local dairy farmer named Helen Gienger. Together they formed Tillamook Country Smoker Inc., and are still located in Bay City, Tillamook County, Oregon. After the passing of Art in 1979, his son Dick Crossley took over, and sales started to soar.
Ingredient Review
Ingredients: Contains Beef, Brown Sugar, Water, Sea Salt, Natural Flavors, Vinegar.
Due to the volume of beef utilized daily at Tillamook Country Smoker, there is no guarantee that the beef used is not fed growth hormones and/or additional antibiotics. The same would be true for partially grass fed cattle. As a result, the highest ingredient rating that can be awarded is a Good (8/10) rating.
The liquid marinade consists of water, papaya juice, and healthy vinegar. The papaya fruit has a natural enzyme named papain that is widely used in the food industry as a natural meat tenderizer.
There are healthy ingredients used such as onion powder, garlic powder, and spices. Even the natural flavors contain spices also.
The sugar level is high at 7 grams of sugar per 28 grams of jerky. Our preference is 3 grams of sugar or under. The salt level is quite high at 520mg of salt per 28 grams of jerky. However, that is negated because minimally processed sea salt is used.
As advertised, this jerky has no sodium nitrite, or any other similar unhealthy preservative. Sea salt is high in minerals, and is the main preservative used, which is far less refined than table salt. To a lesser extent, vinegar helps preserve the beef. Also, as advertised, this jerky has no MSG added.
Decent (7/10) – Ingredient Rating
Taste Review
The majority of strips are rather small in size, sliced to a medium thickness. This texture is borderline from being soft and tender, which results in jerky that is easy to chew. There are no visible signs of fat on this jerky. Handling this jerky does leave a little oily residue on your fingers.
The first taste detected is the natural beef flavor, mixed with a light smoky taste. Then a peppered flavor slowly starts to build. As more strips are consumed, the peppered taste grows, but never exceeds a mild level.
Considering sea salt is in the flavor name, the salt is at a good level. There is a sweetness with this flavor, perhaps a tad too much. Overall, this jerky is mild and pleasant tasting.
This 3 ounce/85 gram bag of Tillamook Country Smoker sea salt & peppered flavor sells online for $4.00. That works out to $1.33 an ounce, which is a cheap price for jerky. With the low price, this jerky is recommended as worth your money.
Bag Review
No labels are on this bag, and everything is imprinted directly on the bag itself on both sides. Tillamook Country Smoker shows some originality using their logo as the partial transparent window to actually view the jerky. As a first, while this bag is resealable, it uses glue, or some sort of adhesive to close the bag.
The Tillamook Country Smoker company registered trademark logo is a circle with a ‘T’ in the middle. On the back of the bag, there is an informative blurb describing Tillamook Country Smoker and their jerky.
There are many slogans printed on this bag such as “Natural Wood Smoked”, “All Natural”, “Minimally Processed”, “No Preservatives Added”, “No Artificial Ingredients”, “97% Fat Free”, “Gluten Free”, “No Nitrites”, “No MSG Added”, “Made With Sea Salt”, “Made in the USA”, “0g Trans Fat”, and “10g of Protein”.
All bag categories are covered, with some worthy notes. To the credit of Tillamook Country Smoker, they provide a toll free phone number for customer inquiries. Also admirable is that this bag has an Export Gift Pack, meaning you can legally send this jerky to your friends and family who live overseas.
Excellent (10/10) – Bag Rating
Order their jerky online: www.tcsjerky.com
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