The next review on Tillamook Country Smoker will be on a 3 ounce/85 gram bag of their All Natural honey glazed flavor. The Tillamook Country Smoker team kindly submitted this jerky for review in 2014.
The Tillamook Country Smoker jerky brand name is manufactured and distributed by Tillamook Country Smoker Inc., located in Bay City, Tillamook County, Oregon. They have been in business for over 50 years, and rank well within the top 10 jerky makers in annual sales for North America. It all started with providing jerky to brave pioneers who often walked every step of the 2000 mile long grueling Oregon Trail. According to Tillamook Country Smoker, the original Oregonians, the Native Americans indigenous to the area, taught settlers how to make jerky.
Ingredient Review
Ingredients: Beef, Brown Sugar, Water, Sea Salt, Natural Flavors, Vinegar, Honey.
The beef used is not guaranteed to be free of growth hormones or additional antibiotics. Also, the beef is not guaranteed to have at least partial free range access to graze on grass. As a result, the highest ingredient rating that can be awarded is a Good (8/10) rating.
The liquid marinade consists of water, honey, and healthy vinegar. The quality of honey can vary greatly. Pure, unpasteurized honey offers multiple health benefits. Most big brand honey names out there barely even resemble honey, and offer little to no health benefits.
The sugar level is somewhat high at 7 grams of sugar per 28 grams of jerky. For a sweet based flavor such as honey, the preference is 5 grams of sugar or less. The salt level is extremely high at 520mg of salt per 28 grams of jerky. Our preference is 350mg of salt or less.
This jerky qualifies to contain no sodium nitrite, or any other similar unhealthy preservative. Instead, salt and to a lesser extent vinegar are the main preservatives. Kudos to Tillamook Country Smoker in that this jerky qualifies to have no MSG added.
Alright (6/10) – Ingredient Rating
Taste Review
These strips are mostly medium sized, sliced to a medium thickness. The texture is dry, but not overly dry. Chewing this jerky is relatively easy making this texture quite appealing. There are no visible signs of fat on this jerky, and handling this jerky leaves no residue on your fingers.
The first taste detected is the natural beef flavor along with a sweetness. For a honey glazed flavor, the honey flavor is mild at best. The brown sugar is stronger, but the honey taste is noticeable. While this is a sweet tasting jerky, the sweetness level is within reason.
Occasionally we pick up a peppery taste from the black pepper, and the salt level is moderate. A nice touch to the flavor is a smoked taste. Overall, an enjoyable snack.
This 3 ounce/85 gram bag of Tillamook Country Smoker teriyaki flavor sells online for $4.00. That works out to $1.33 an ounce, which is a very cheap price for jerky. There is free shipping for any order over $45. For people who enjoy a mildly sweet tasting jerky, this is a good deal for 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. 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.
The bag listed at the bottom was purchased in Scranton, Pennsylvania, back in 2012 for $4.99. The ingredient list has not changed much, where the most notable change is that no sodium nitrite is used anymore.
Excellent (10/10) – Bag Rating
Order their jerky online: www.tcsjerky.com
Leave a Comment