The next review on Wild Bill’s will be on a 3 ounce/85 gram bag of their sweet maple glazed flavored bacon jerky. This bag was purchased at Bourbon Street Liquors in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, back in December 2013.
The popular Wild Bill’s brand of jerky is manufactured and distributed by the very large jerky company Monogram Meat Snacks, LLC, located in Memphis, Tennessee. Once upon a time, this jerky was made by Wild Bill’s Food Inc. It appears that Monogram Meat Snacks, LLC purchased this jerky brand around 2009. That makes this jerky a stock recipe.
Ingredient Review
Ingredients: Cured With Water, Salt, Sugar, Smoke Flavoring, Sodium Phosphate, Sodium Erythorbate, Sodium Nitrite
This bacon jerky is described as being “Cured with Water”. Some people will say that curing bacon in water is a healthier method of curing. The term ‘cured‘ implies that nitrites were used.
The only liquid used in this marinade is water. Overall, this is a fairly small ingredient list.
The sugar level is listed at 0 grams of sugar per 28 grams of jerky, which appears to be a dubious claim. Sugar is third on the ingredient list by weight, and a maple based flavor is sweet tasting by nature. The salt level is high at 530mg of salt per 28 grams of jerky, but almost all bacon jerky have high salt levels.
For preservatives used, we have a triple whammy of sodium phosphate, sodium erythorbate and sodium nitrite. Salt itself is the main preservative. This jerky does qualify to have no MSG added.
Bad (3/10) – Ingredient Rating
Taste Review
These jerky strips are mainly small in size, with a number of very small pieces, where it is not accurate to call them jerky strips. Wild Bill’s labels them as bite sized pieces. The thickness is medium to thin. The texture is dry, but not overly dry, which makes for easy chewing. Not surprising, there is a fair amount of fat in this jerky. There is a bit of oily residue left on your fingers while handling this jerky.
As soon as you open this bag, the smell of bacon is quite strong. The taste is no different, it is that unmistakable bacon flavor. This jerky is salty, but within reason. Other than that, this jerky more or less tastes like any standard bacon you would buy in stores, and not overly cooked. There is not much maple flavor here, but there is a sweet taste.
This 3 ounce/85 gram bag of jerky was purchased for $6.99. That works out to $2.33 an ounce, which rates as a borderline average price. There are better bacon jerky brands out there.
Bag Review
This is a resealable bag, with everything imprinted on to the bag directly, on both sides. There are no labels affixed to this bag.
The most striking thing about this bag is the actual Wild Bill logo. It’s an old, short man with a beard and moustache wielding two long guns, dressed in old style clothes, kind of like a pirate.
The only slogan is “It’s ‘Mighty Fine'”. Some facts printed on this bag are “100% Real Bacon”, “Made in the U.S.A.”, and “Smoke Flavor Added”.
All bag categories are covered here. There is an interesting blurb printed on the back, describing Wild Bill’s origins. To the credit of Monogram Meat Snacks, LLC., they provide a toll free phone number for customer inquiries.
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