Funky’s Meat Snacks is a small batch snack brand that offers a wide variety of beef jerky, meat sticks, seasonings, condiments, and specialty snacks with a bold, playful personality. Founded by Debby Funk during the COVID era as an extension of her gift shop and embroidery business (www.embroideryboutiqueknox.com), the company began by launching its first meat snack flavors in 2022 and has since expanded into numerous savory and spicy offerings.
Funky’s Meat Snacks focuses on flavorful, handcrafted products such as Sweet Korean BBQ Beef Jerky, Tennessee Whiskey Beef Jerky, Cowboy Cut Honeyed Pepper Beef Jerky, jalapeño meat sticks, and salt and pepper jerky varieties. The brand emphasizes fun flavor combinations, eye catching branding, and snack experimentation while maintaining a homemade, independent business feel.
This Funky’s Meat Snacks brand is distributed under the same name Funky’s Meat Snacks, located in Knoxville, Tennessee. These meat sticks are manufactured by MRK Foods, Inc., and is located in Roscoe, Illinois.
The next review on Funky’s Meat Snacks will focus on a 3.5 ounce/99 gram bag of their Jalapeno flavored meat sticks. These meat sticks were graciously submitted for review by Owner Debby Funk.
Ingredient Review
Ingredients: Pork, Beef, Water, Salt, Corn Syrup Solids, Encapsulated Citric Acid (Citric Acid, Hydrogenated Palm Oil), Sodium Acetate, Sodium Diacetate, Dehydrated Jalapenos, Spices, Dehydrated Garlic, Sodium Erythorbate, Sodium Nitrite. Stuffed in Colored Collagen Casing
The pork used is guaranteed to be raised ethically with no antibiotics and no added hormones. This pork is not guaranteed to have at least partial free range access to roam outside. The beef used is not guaranteed to be free of growth hormones. 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.
Some healthy ingredients added are Jalapeno powder, garlic powder, and spices.
The sugar level is 0 grams of sugar per 25 grams of meat stick. The salt level is acceptable at 360mg of salt per 25 grams of meat stick.
Hydrogenated palm oil is used, which contains unhealthy trans fat to lose a rating.
While not listed in the ingredient list, the artificial color red #40, red #3, or an equivalent is likely used in the colored collagen casing to lose a rating.
Unhealthy sodium nitrite is used as a preservative in this meat stick along with sodium erythorbate to lose a rating. Admirably, there is no MSG added.
Average (5/10) – Ingredient Rating
Taste Review
FUNKY’S MEAT SNACKS – JALAPENO MEAT STICKS
Written by guest jerky reviewer Paul Rekker
When I open the bag I smell absolutely nothing at all. No odor whatsoever. The meat stick looks exactly like most other meat sticks (pepperettes), in size, shape, and girth. It is a bit moist, and it leaves a slight oily residue on your fingers.
When I bite into the meat stick, I taste salt at a decent level, mild sweetness, light pepper, light garlic, and not much else. As I consume more, I am now picking up on the jalapeño flavor, but I didn’t after my first bite. Even now, the jalapeño heat is moderate at best, there is no flavor jumping out at me. There is also no “snap” whatsoever in the collagen casing, and the meat stick is soft as well.
The overall flavor is decent, but there is no “wow” factor at all, which aligns with a 7/10, as I believe this review is writing, and I am comfortable awarding this meat stick a 7/10.
Here is what Mark had to say about these Jalapeno meat sticks flavor from Funky’s Meat Snacks: “Thanks Paul for the candid taste review. I pretty much agree with everything stated. I found that the heat from the Jalapeno peppers is not consistent. In some meat sticks the heat level is good, at about a 2 out of 4 or 2 out of 5 on a heat scale. On other meat sticks, the heat barely exceeds a 1 out of 4 on the heat scale.”
“The texture contains no ‘snap’ at all. Plus, as Paul mentioned, the meat stick is quite soft. It is akin to eating mush, which is somewhat off putting. In the sticks where the heat from the Jalapeno peppers is at a solid level, the flavor is good. In the other sticks with less heat, the taste is decent. A unanimous Decent (7/10) taste rating will be awarded.”
This 3.5 ounce/99 gram bag of jerky sells online for $10.00. That works out to $2.86 an ounce, which rates as an expensive price.
Bag Review
This resealable plastic bag has a label affixed to the front and nothing on the back. The logo depicts owner Debby Funk introducing Funky’s Meat Snacks.
There are no slogans printed on this bag. Some facts printed on this bag are “Medium Hot”, “Fully Cooked”, “Meat Snack Sticks”, and “Made in the U.S.A.”.
The only missing bag category is a blurb about this jerky or flavor. You are encouraged to follow Funky’s Meat Snacks on Instagram.
Order their jerky online: www.funkyssnacks.net
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