Would have been nice to have a choice on HOT or not. As jerky takes quite a while to chew down properly, I never saw the fascination with hot jerky, keeping your mouth on fire for minutes at a time. Especially since there is a tendency to GROSSLY over-apply the “hot” ingredient. Then again there are several thousand fools trying to swallow tree bark dust by the spoonful (i.e. the “cinnamon challenge”, cinnamon essentially being ground tree bark…), and wiping out their taste buds trying the “chew then swallow” ghost pepper challenge. Me, I just like a good smokey jerky, sometimes sweet a bit, sometimes not.
Bought this last time it was up. The “hot” isn’t very hot in my opinion (basically some red pepper flakes on the outside you could wipe off). Of course my opinion of “hot” might be different from yours as I have no problem with the spiciness of ghost peppers, I just dislike how bitter they are. Trinidad Scorpion peppers have the same “heat” but also have great flavor, while a Carolina Reaper is pretty bitter but adds a wonderful smoky chipotle flavor.
Regardless, I really did enjoy the jerky even though it was a bit tougher & greasier than most gourmet jerkies I’ve tried. Hard to justify spending nearly $30 per pound, but the fact I’m considering it should attest to its tastiness.
As a Chef you can buy a choice 8 oz piece of meat the top cuts for less then 4 oz of jerky but this just proves why someone once sold people pet rocks lmao.