Editor's Choice: Jeff's Famous Beef Jerky

I had no idea how much I loved beef jerky until I tried Jeff's Famous Beef Jerky. We were lucky enough to sample the Old Fashioned Original, Black Pepper and Sea Salt, Sweet Teriyaki, Jalapeno, and my personal favorite, Orange A Peel.

The jerky is soft, tender, has a lovely ribbon of fat running through it, and still tastes of beef and not just the flavors the strips have been given.

When the sample came in, I opened it and tried some. "Oh, that was good" I thought to myself. I got up a few minutes later to try more of the Orange A Peel which is a lovely orangey, sweet and salty mix. Then I got up again and brought the bag, almost as if in a dream, back to my desk and ate the whole thing. That is when my new love of jerky was born.

My grandfather was a butcher, and when I shared this jerky with my mom (because I have been carrying a bag around with me in my purse since we got it, nibbling on it, trying to make it last. That's not weird. Right?) she said it was just like the fresh jerky that her dad used to make. I am told there is a butcher shop here in town that makes jerky that rivals this for taste and obviously, since they don't package and ship it, rather shave it off into butcher paper and wrap it up, for freshness. I am not convinced.

This is the kind of jerky you could put on a cheese plate next to a nice nutty cheese and a few fresh fruit slices for a treat for party guests. I think it would also be great for kids, to quiet the hunger and to keep them busy chewing (not that it is chewy, per se, but chewier than lunch meat). I am a newly devoted fan to Jeff's Famous and I have to tell you, if anyone around here stocked it, which I highly recommend, I think the city urban hipster-types would go insane for it.

-Elizabeth Dugan