Costco is selling a four pack of canned pulled pork from Harvest Creek. I bought the canned pulled pork for this review and can report that the product is surprisingly tasty.
There are some issues with the canned pulled pork that you need to be aware of such as water content, leanness of the meat and a lack of smoky flavor. That being said, the canned pulled pork is exactly what it says it is on the label so I have no problem giving the Harvest Creek product a positive recommendation.
Contents of the Can
When I opened up the can of pulled pork I immediately noticed several things.
The first thing I noticed is that there was a lot of water in with the pork. Exactly how much water is something we will cover in a minute.
The second thing I noticed was that the pork looked like it was “white meat” which is typically found in the loin of the hog. The loin is an ultra lean cut and is quite different than meat from the shoulder that is traditionally used to make pulled pork.
The last thing was that the fibers of the meat were short and tight which again leads me to think that this is loin meat instead of shoulder meat.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with meat from the loin of the hog. In fact I think it is delicious. The issue to be aware of is that “traditional” pulled pork is made from the shoulder and will have a completely different taste and texture from this product.
Let’s talk about how much water is in each can of pulled pork.
The label says that each can has a net weight of 12 ounces and a drained weight of 8 ounces. This means that each 12 ounce can contains 4 ounces of water (33%).
On one hand I do not like the idea that I am going to drain off and discard 1/3 of the product weight. On the other hand, the label clearly indicates that you will only get 8 ounces of meat per can so I am fine with the situation.
The Pulled Pork Sandwich
I drained the pulled pork, transferred it to a microwave safe container and heated it in the microwave on High for 90 seconds.
The pork was added to a toasted sesame bun along with some creamy Cole slaw and Kinder’s Honey Hot Barbecue sauce to make a classic pulled pork sandwich.
There was enough pulled pork in the can to make two large sandwiches and I thought it came out looking great!
Taste
The pulled pork worked incredibly well on the sandwich and I thought it tasted great!
The pork had just enough salt to be well seasoned, was perfectly tender and had a delicious pork flavor. The pork flavors married with the barbecue sauce while the contrasting cool, creamy slaw and crunchy toasted bun made my mouth really happy.
There was zero smoke flavor in the pork which seemed strange for a pulled pork product but, again, there was nothing on the label that said “Smoked”, “Barbecue” or any other phrases to indicate that a smoke flavor should be present.
This is a simple, clean and straightforward canned pork product that works great in sandwiches.
Calories and Nutrition
Harvest Creek is calling a portion size two ounces and that is ridiculously small. Instead of looking at the calories on their “per serving” basis let’s do it on a “per can” basis.
One can of the pulled pork has 8 ounces of meat with the following calories and nutritional information:
- Calories: 240
- Fat: 4g
- Cholesterol: 120mg
- Sodium: 960mg
- Carbohydrates: 0mg
- Protein: 48g
The pulled pork is incredibly lean and low in fat which is in line with my belief that it id made from the loin of the hog instead of the shoulder. The pork is so lean it has the almost identical nutritional information as Costco’s Canned Chicken Breast.
Another comparison point is the nutritional information from the Kirkland Signature Pulled Pork that you find in the refrigerated deli coolers. The Kirkland Signature Pulled Pork, which does come the shoulder of the hog, has 56% more calories and over 700% more fat, on a per ounce basis, than the Harvest Creek canned product.
Price
I bought the four pack of Harvest Creek Pulled pork at Costco for $13.99.
The signage at Costco indicated the product was priced at $0.291 per ounce ($4.65 per pound) but this is misleading. The $0.291 per ounce price is based on a 12 ounce can but these cans only contain 8 ounces of meat after being drained.
Once you subtract the water content you will find that the price is closer to $7 per pound. At first glance paying $7 per pound for any pork product seems excessive but you have to remember that what you are really buying is the convenience of having a quick, high quality ready to eat meal solution sitting in your pantry.
I too enjoyed the Pulled Pork from Costco but have not been able to but again for many months-not even for delivery. Going to the Harvest Creek site, they don’t show anything like this in their product lineup. Hope it hasn’t been discontinued!!.
My local Costco is north of Houston -77384