Baja Beef Jerky Variety Pack - Healthy Beef Jerky, Gluten Free, 10g Protein, Low Calorie, 100% All Natural Beef Jerky, No Nitrates or Hormones -Traditional & Crackin' Pepper, 2 & 2.5 Oz Bags (Pack of 4)

I sure wish somebody could make jerky without a ton of salt. This product is tender and smells great, but the salt overwhelms the taste. There's got to be enough salt in just a couple of (small) pieces to equal a normal *month's* worth of sodium. Disgusting.

Let's get the conclusion out of the way so you can move on to the next review: these things are friggin' delicious. I mean, starving-man-eating-steak delicious. Like the Platonic ideal of delicious. Like we killed off all of the bits under 5 minutes delicious.Oh, and full disclosure: I was certifiably high as hell when I had these. But who are you to judge?Anyway, me, my wife, and several friends were enjoying a perfect afternoon in a perfect setting with some perfect bud and naturally we started getting a little peckish. Okay, ravenous. Now Maui Wowie is one of the best strains ever grown and has been since the 70's. In fact, it's been a personal favorite of mine since about 1979. It's got a wonderful come on, doesn't bring on couch lock, and keeps you feeling good for the whole high. In short, it's ideal for daytime. The thing is, it brings on some hard munchies. Luckily, this shipment of four packets arrived in the morning, so there wasn't the usual scavenging to find something suitable for grinds.We tore into these like cannibals devouring a succulent child, or like some Q-moron devouring the latest insane conspiracy theory. They were sublime. The meat was tender, yet thoroughly jerked, the spices were flavorful without being overpowering, and the actual strips of beef were of very good quality. Sometimes you can get jerky that's way too dry, or way too stringy, or has a lot of fascia, but not these. Whomever the good people at Baja have selecting their beef do yeoman's work, that's for sure.Did I mention that all four bags were done in under 5 min? Yeah, they were that good.Of course, as I said, I was quite high so I might very well be saying the same thing about a spoonful of old broiler grease smeared on cardboard. Whatever. I'm getting more of this because I do take advantage of the cannabis laws here in California and these were such a good match.There is one thing about these that is annoying, however: they market these prominently as being gluten free. Really? Meat is gluten free? No duh. Clearly this is aimed squarely at the fragile millennials out there who are convinced they are somehow reactive to gluten when the truth is they are just petulant little infants who need something to whinge about in order to generate sympathy. If these didn't satisfy the munchies as well as they do, I would probably avoid them just because of this fealty to the glutards out there.But hey, I do enjoy my Maui Wowie, so I need something for the cravings.

I eat A LOT of jerky. I've tried A LOT of jerky brands. Very few mass market, store brands are any good. The meat is soft, oily, and pretty tasteless (REAL jerky is dried - not simply spiced meat). Its pretty clear that these people have no idea what jerky is supposed to taste and look like. They also charge you a fortune for this tasteless mess. I'm not sure what the cut of meat that they use, but considering the look of the meat I'm guessing its the cheapest, low quality cut on the cow. That also affects the taste.Baja Jerky is billed at being a craft variety of jerky that's also healthy with no bad stuff in it. That may be true, but the taste and consistency of the jerky is not better than what you find in the stores. The "Traditional Flavor" is overly seasoned with Worcestershire and Vinegar - that's essentially all you taste and smell. Also the meat is falling apart and is not dried like jerky should be. The "Cracked Pepper" variety is better, but I hope you like pepper because that's all you taste. At least with this variety the jerky was less moist and gooey, but no less basically just pressure cooked meat. The cut that's used is also no less unappetizing in look and consistency.As far as the price, its the typically astronomical pricing. You get 9 oz of jerky (2x2.5 for the Traditional and 2x2.0 oz for the Cracked Pepper) for $25. I finished one bag in about 5 min - that's not really cost conscious. Considering I can get 12 oz of jerky from a local brand that I actually enjoy eating for $15, I don't see me switching anytime soon...

My husband and I absolutely love trying any and all meat snacks! Beef jerky is one of our favorites but they are all SO different. I hate jerky that is tough, dry, and hard to chew. A lot of the mainstream brands are leathery so I enjoy trying some of the more premium brands.The Baja Beef Jerky Classic Variety Pack comes with 4 bags of jerky - 2 Traditional and 2 Crackin' Pepper. I was surprised how different they were.The Traditional was absolutely DELICIOUS!!!!! Tender, moist, easy to chew, fresh tasting, and super flavorful. The taste was smoky, sweet, and a tad peppery. I didn't encounter a single fatty or gristly piece in either of the bags.The Crackin Pepper was very different. I expected it to be the same in texture, just a little different in flavor. More pepper, of course. The texture was very different. It was much drier and harder to chew. I wouldn't say that it was leathery but it definitely wasn't as moist as the Traditional. We didn't come across any fatty pieces in either of the bags. The taste wasn't as sweet and definitely had a stronger pepper flavor.If I were to buy this brand again, I would stick to the Traditional. It's a VERY good jerky, full of flavor and soooo tender!

I got a sample pack of the "Classic" flavor. It is really very good. It has a barbeque flavor which is really nice and the meat is tender and not too hard, as some jerkys are. A whole pack is only 125 Cal, which is great. They say clean ingredients and I do appreciate that there are no nitrates and the the beef is hormone free. However, to me these days clean means grass fed and finished, which this is not. Hence your omega 3-to-6 ratio will reflect likely a factory farmed, grain-fed source. I do try to avoid that these days for health and humanitarian reasons. With that in mind this comes to about $6.50/2.5 Oz bag which is pretty steep for non grass-fed.Update: I just realized that the package I got was a variety pack. The original flavor still stands as very good. The pepper version is hard, in some cases crunchy. Still tastes okay but not nearly as good a flavor or texture as the original. Definitely over-dehydrated. I would stick with the original.