The first review for West Coast Select will focus on a 0.5 ounce/14 gram bag of their original flavored salmon chopped & formed jerky. This bag was given as a gift from a co-worker, being purchased in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
This West Coast Select brand name is distributed under the name of Sundance Seafood Limited, and it is located in Cloverdale, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. Before the inception of Sundance Seafood Limited, the Denike family was involved in fishing crab, salmon and halibut. When two baby girls came into the Denike family, Sundance Seafood Limited was started in 1990. With a solid understanding of fish and the fishers, Sundance Seafood Limited began offering gourmet quality, smoked salmon products. West Coast Select currently sell beef and salmon jerky, among other things. The salmon used in this jerky is chum salmon, also known as dog salmon, keta salmon, or silverbrite salmon.
Ingredient Review
Ingredients: Chum Salmon, Sugar, Yeast Extract, Spices & Herbs, Garlic Powder, Salt, Natural Smoke Flavor.
Of any type of jerky, wild salmon might rank the healthiest of them all. Salmon is known to be very healthy, and it is especially loaded with the fatty acid Omega 3. As a result, the ingredient rating starts at an Excellent (10/10) rating.
The texture of this jerky is chopped and formed, or something similar. As a result, without having a natural whole sliced strip of jerky, two ingredient ratings are deducted.
Some healthy ingredients are used such as spices and garlic powder. One of the spices most likely includes healthy black pepper.
There is no nutrition facts table provided. As a result, the sugar and salt levels are unknown. Based on the taste alone, both the sugar and salt would seem to be at reasonable levels.
This jerky does qualify to have no sodium nitrite added, or any other similar unhealthy preservatives. Instead, salt is the main preservative. Commendably, this jerky qualifies to have no MSG added.
Good (8/10) – Ingredient Rating
Taste Review
Written by guest jerky reviewer Stéphane Leclerc
The West Coast Select – Original Salmon Jerky is quite pungent and fishy with a “processed” aroma kind of feel to it.
A sour taste is noticeable at first and quickly develops into a rather intense *fishy kick rated at 5/5. We also detected a mild blend of spices although nothing special neither good nor bad. The overwhelming salmon taste quickly kicks in and this could potentially turn-off some unaware jerky or salmon aficionado. It should also be said salmon jerky tends to be far more intense or fishy in flavor than tuna jerky.
A few little bites later and a really noticeable aftertaste keep lingering in my mouth. There are slight levels of sweetness and saltiness and perhaps at best a faint level of garlic.
This jerky is chopped and formed or something similar. A chopped and formed jerky also tends to be stronger tasting than the more coveted sliced method and there is no exception here.
This 10” single strip of jerky is rectangular in size and very thin in thickness. The strip is quite dry, shiny and leathery but still reasonably easy to chew. There is no oily residue left on fingertips upon handling this salmon strip.
I am usually a big fan of salmon; I love its flavor every which way. Unfortunately, I can’t find anything to really keep me interested in this jerky. This salmon stick is really small and perhaps not a bad thing considering that it is very fishy and somewhat bland tasting. The flavor profile is somewhat lame and one dimensional. It is uninspiring, as there are no really interesting flavors to grab on including the bitterness/sourness and further the lingering aftertaste.
We can only recommend this West Coast Select – Original Salmon Jerky to fans of salmon without high expectations or perhaps someone wishing to re-enact an episode of Fear Factor.
We’ve rated this jerky as an Average 5/10 taste rating.
* Taste Indicator: Rated using the Jerky Ingredients “Fishy” Scale …Scale? Get It, TeeHee! : -)
This 0.5 ounce/14 gram bag cost $3.99, which rates as an expensive price.
Bag Review
This narrow, clear, non-resealable plastic bag has a label affixed to the front, and nothing on the back. The West Coast Select logo has a drawing of a salmon in the middle. This bag is vacuum sealed, the best way to keep jerky fresh tasting.
There are no slogans printed on this bag. The only fact printed on this bag is “Processed in Canada”.
Some bag categories missing are a nutrition facts table, distributor web site, and a Canada Department Agriculture (CDA) inspected logo. A Gluten-Free logo is displayed.
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