Vermont Smoke & Cure - Smoked Chipotle Beef & Pork Sticks

Ah, the classic meat stick. I sure had a lot of these, but they're gone now! I did enjoy them more than the turkey sticks I had previously, since these were moister. They do taste like a restaurant version of "chipotle seasoning", whatever that means. A nice change of space within the same meatstick workspace. Pretty solid for what it is.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Vermont Smoke & Cure - Honey Mustard Turkey Sticks

These are cute -- yellow labels for mustard and honey! So sensible. This flavor is good, but not great. It's healthier in terms of calories, being turkey and not beef/pork, and it feels healthier too if you know what I mean. A bit "dry" compared to the roni types. Not a super strong honey flavor or mustard flavor -- mostly meat flavor. A tiny bit of spice, but the spice is mainly like, black pepper.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Vermont Smoke and Cure - BBQ Beef Sticks

These were good, even though they're beef and not pork, they tasted like a cherry ham slice. A little mild BBQ smoke flavor too, I guess? Overall a solid filling snack, like mosta these VSC bad boys.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Vermont Smoke & Cure - Uncured Pepperoni Turkey Sticks

The company is smoke 'n cure...but this is uncured....so I guess it's smoked? Not sure on these technical details, but this is a good tasting meat stick. It's turkey, which seems healthier, and it's got a nice unique flavor -- really tastes like some spicy pepperoni. A good change of pace after the ham flavored sticks. The only concern I have about these is that a lot of reviews on them say that sticks were moldy or went bad or had air in them or weren't sealed properly, and the pics were pretty scary. I didn't have any issues like that, I don't think, but I did have one that tasted a little "off" (and I ate it anyway, lol) so now I'm a bit concerned. But ignoring that and just based on my experience, this company continues to be a hit for me. The nut-free portable protein is great.

Overall

Cost: 5/10 (Almost 30$ for a case, kind of pricy)

Taste: 7/10

Vermont Smoke & Cure Uncured Bacon Pork Sticks

OK, Blogger just updated their interface and it's weirding me out. Anyway, another flavor of meat stick! Supposedly no cumin in this one, and nut-free, so that's good. This is all pig meat, which is a different flavor than your beef/turkey sticks -- this tastes almost exactly like a ham slice, except it's cold and there's no pineapple flavor (I usually make a ham with a pineapple). It's kinda uncanny. I like ham fine, and it's cool to have a shelf-stable version, but I'm so used to the spicy turkey meat stick that it's weird to have one that tastes so plain, even if I like ham fine. Seems like with all the seasoning or juice in the ingredients that it should have a more....seasoned? taste, and it just doesn't. Also doesn't really taste like bacon, although maybe the difference between ham slice and bacon is just texture? But it's got a ham slice texture. Anyway, I'm not sure where this falls for me. I don't hate it but I don't see myself craving it ever really. Plus I think it's more likely to be cancerous than turkey is, right? (Is that right???)

Overall

Cost: 5/10

Taste: 6/10

Vermont Smoke & Cure Original Beef & Pork Stick

Hard to find meat without leaving the house, but this big pack of meat sticks came through for me. The texture isn't tough or chewy at all, with just a little bite. It's a tiny bit spicy but otherwise honestly not super flavorful. Tastes more like pork than beef, but it is subtle. Most importantly, they are Top-8 free, so no nut risk and no soy filler either. That's huge for my piece of mind right now, and so even though these aren't amazing, they are portable safe meat, which is amazing enough for me. Although the aftertaste of spicy is kind of nice!




Overall
Cost: 5/10 (A little over 1$/stick, which seems decent but is pricier than other snacks of course)
Taste: 7/10