Costco is selling Golden Island Pork Jerky with a Fire Grilled Korean Barbecue recipe. I had been curious about this jerky for a while and was delighted to try some courtesy of one of the lovely ladies handing out free samples.
Keep reading this review and we will cover:
- Costco Pork Jerky Taste Test
- Pork Jerky Nutrition
- Price of Pork Jerky at Costco
Taste Test!
This Korean barbecue style pork jerky tastes and feels very different than a traditional beef jerky. The pieces of jerky are small and this and feel slightly tacky like the flavors have been glazed onto the meat.
The texture of the pork jerky is at a crossroads between Tough/Tender. The jerky is not hard but does have a lot of chew to it.
The flavor of the jerky is on the sweet side with touches of savory. This flavor profile, which would be problematic on beef, works great with the pork.
Overall this is a nice jerky with a unique, interesting flavor and good chew.
Calories and Nutrition
A single serving of this jerky is 1 ounce and has the following nutritional information:
- Calories: 90
- Fat: 2g
- Cholesterol: 25mg
- Sodium: 360mg
- Carbohydrates: 10g
- Protein: 7g
Overall this is a relatively healthy meat snack that has nutritional qualities similar to jerky made from turkey or buffalo.
The pork jerky only has 2g of fat which is five times lower than found in Snake River Farms Wagyu Beef Jerky.
The carbohydrates are higher than you will find for most types of jerky and that comes from the added sugar in the ingredients. This jerky would not be considered keto friendly. If you want a low sugar jerky then check out Kirkland Signature Steak Strips instead.
Ingredients
The pork jerky contains:
- Pork
- Sugar
- Water
- Gluten Free Soy Sauce
- Brown Sugar
- Sesame Seeds
- Garlic Powder
- Salt
- Sesame Oil
- Onion Powder
The company website says the jerky is Gluten Free and the ingredient list indicates that it is made with gluten free soy sauce.
Storage
When unopened the jerky is a shelf stable product with a Best Buy that is roughly one year from your date of purchase.
Once the bag has been opened you will need to either consume the whole bag, or refrigerate, within three days.
After the bag has been opened and refrigerated it will last in the refrigerator for about a month.
Price of Pork Jerky at Costco
The 14.5 ounce bag of Golden Island Pork Jerky costs $12.99, or $0.896 per ounce, at Costco.
Prices are extremely volatile for everything right now so instead of looking at the total price I think it makes sense to compare the price to a benchmark.
For example, the Kirkland Signature Beef Steak Strips currently cost $0.966 per ounce and that is a pretty nice deal.
The pork jerky currently costs $0.07 per ounce less than the Costco branded beef jerky which makes the pork jerky a great value.
