TEST KITCHEN - GOCHUJANG BEEF JERKY

This was great! Man what a burst of flavor every time you take a bite. I always utilize jerky for taking in calories during the day on my backpacking trips. I usually take unflavored, but I think this might be a better fit. In any case it's a great flavor.

The flavor of this Gochujang jerky is quite good, and I like the level of spiciness that it has. I was worried it would be too much, so I was pleasantly surprised to find it relatively mild and not overpowering with added flavors. The texture of the batch I got was similar to the original style, being on the tougher side, and I really enjoy that! This is a only 4/5 for me, instead of a 5/5, for the following two reasons: 1) I am not a huge fan of the light sweetness with this style, but in general I have a strong preference/bias for savory over sweet. 2) It is kind of messy, I think because of an oil. My hand sometimes comes out the packaging with greasy orange streaks, and I get the oil on my fingers wherever I touch the jerky. Makes it more difficult to snack on while doing anything else.

The flavor is great, and it's nicely balanced between too-soft and too-tough. My only reservation would be that I was looking for a bit more heat. I see now that it only claims mild heat, but that's not what I associate with a good gochujang. If it were me I would take the heat up just a little bit.