HardTimes Beef Jerky

I got a call from JW Tennery the other day; the owner of HardTimes beef jerky. Talking to him made me feel even better about his jerky! Other than tasting great, it was nice knowing that this jerky comes from a small mom and pop operation, kind of like us.

JW was everything you would expect from your ideal jerky maker. He was a gruff, direct and good-natured man who stands behind his jerky 100%. With his face on the front of every package he reiterates his confidence in his jerky and invites customers to contact him directly, if they’re dissatisfied with HardTimes beef jerky.

We originally began to carry HardTimes beef jerky because it’s a great tasting slice of meat, but we’re even happier to carry it now that we’ve met the owner.

Powdered vs Liquid Syrup

We got in a new type of syrup today – syrup in a packet. This was a great find since almost all of the small packages of syrup come in a cup rather than a pouch. Cups don’t work at all because they pop open pretty easily if you apply too much pressure to them. Could you imagine opening up your backpack only to find that your cup of syrup exploded when you sat on it during lunch and now you have syrup all over your pack?!

This 1.5oz packet of syrup is just about the right amount for one person eating pancakes, French toast, scrapple or biscuits. It’s tasty, you don’t have to spend time trying to get your syrup from home into a little bottle, and at only $0.45 is a great deal!

Our organic powdered maple syrup is a great choice for campers concerned with weight or for those preferring the taste of pure maple syrup. Since campers can choose to rehydrate as much or as little maple syrup as they would like, there is very little mess or waste left to clean up. Plus, with only one ingredient (organic dehydrated maple syrup) and no additives or preservatives, our maple syrup granules are one of the purest sweeteners around!

Butter Powder!

Butter is something that’s nearly impossible to take on a backcountry camping trip but tastes oh so good in all types of food! Butter powder bridges the gap and allows campers to enjoy the flavor of butter, even if they’re two weeks in.

Butter powder blends easily into mixes for pancakes, baked goods and sauces. In addition to mixes, butter powder can also be added to cooked vegetables, pasta, instant rice, and just about any other cooked dish you can think of. Rehydrated butter powder looks a lot like whipped butter and tastes like butter that’s had a little milk added to it. Once rehydrated, butter powder looks and spreads much like butter – it will even melt on your hot biscuits or pan bread!

Our butter powder is as close as you can get to pure butter in a powder form – the only ingredients are butter powder and dry buttermilk. Butter can’t be powdered in its pure form because it has very little water that can be removed. That’s why the buttermilk has been added – it adds the extra liquid needed to allow butter to transform into a powdered state. Since we use buttermilk rather than plain milk, our butter has a flavor closer to pure butter than most although it does still have a slight milky flavor.

Black Olives in the Wilderness?

I am so excited! I have a weakness for olives – green, black, whatever…but black are my favorite ☺ So, when we saw an opportunity to get our hands on freeze-dried olives, we pounced!

These olives are delicious! They taste just like the black olives you can get in a can (verses kalamata or gaeta). So far, we’ve tried them on a pizza, in tacos and mixed into a dip. Each time we just threw them into the mix and cooked or allowed to rehydrate along with all of the other ingredients. We made no special allowances…and they turned out beautifully.

Freeze-dried olives are also a delicious snack eaten right out of the bag. But then again, I am the kind of person that can eat an entire can of black olives in one sitting, so you may not feel the same way ☺


Meal Idea: Red Pepper Curry Chicken & Olive Couscous

A Whole World of Sausage

We got several new types of sausage in this week – all delicious and all very different.

The first is an abruzzese. Frankly, I wasn’t sure what kind of sausage this was be before we looked into ordering it. Basically it’s a mellow dry Italian sausage made from choice cuts of naturally seasoned fresh pork and cured with smoke and a hint of chili pepper.

I tasted it and found that it is very similar to a “regular” sausage - - but much better! The flavor is sweet (as in, not hot or spicy), the texture is lean (for a salami) and of high quality. This abruzzese comes as two 4oz sausages wrapped together in a single pack. This is great if there are two people eating as each person can figure on getting their own sausage – plenty for lunch (with a few crackers) after a morning of hiking.


Our second type of new sausage is the Hot & Spicy Mesquite Smoked Dried Sausage from Gourmet Smoked Meats of Texas. Made locally and delivered fresh, these sausages are only a few weeks old (at most) when they land on your doorstep. A mildly spicy, intensely flavorful and tender dry sausage this is my favorite type of sausage from Gourmet Meats.


The final sausage is a salame made by Boar’s Head (nope not misspelled . . . salame is the true Italian form of what we know as salami). Historically salame served as a meat resource for “peasant Italians” because it could be kept at room temperature for longer periods of time than fresh meat. Sounds like campers to me! Anyway . . . Boar’s Head is well known for its quality meats and this Italian Dry Salame is no exception. Beautifully wrapped, this salami makes a great ‘special picnic salami’ – a tasty and hearty piece of meat – a welcome addition to any lunch.

Jerky, Jerky, Jerky

We’ve had requests from several customers to beef up our jerky section so we’ve added 4 new types of jerky to the site.

Three of our jerkys are made by Gourmet Smoked Meats of Texas, a little company a few hours from Austin specializing in all types of dried beef. We love the flavor and texture of their products…which could be because all of their meats are made fresh to order. By the time a package of their jerky makes it to your doorstep, it won’t be more than a few weeks old, making it deliciously tender.

The Mesquite Smoked Beef Jerky is one of my favorites. A classic jerky, the mesquite smoked is lightly peppered and not at all spicy for a smooth, hearty flavor.


The Mesquite Smoked Peppered Beef Jerky is a lot like its classic sibling but amps up the pepper quite a bit. Texans are big fans of peppered jerky and there’s a good reason why – it’s delicious!


The Mesquite Smoked Hot & Spicy Beef Jerky takes the flavors up yet another notch. Even though I’m from Texas, I seem to be lacking the spicy gene present among the rest of my family – I can’t even deal with Tabasco much less jalapenos! That said, this jerky is GOOD! Not too spicy, I did have to sip some water after every few bites but the flavors were definitely worth it. Even if you’re not big on spicy food, give this one a try.


Our fourth jerky, Hard Times, hails from Oklahoma, which to us means that it has to be that much better to hold it’s own with jerky from around here. I hate to admit it but in a blind taste test, this jerky beat out a few of the Texas brands – we just can’t deny it, this jerky is good! Peppery and smoky slices, this is a more “chewy” textured jerky with a good meaty flavor – a very good choice! Plus it comes with it’s own toothpick!

There’s a New Hot Sauce in Town

Cholula!

Cholula is a brand of hot sauce found in Tex-Mex and Mexican restaurants throughout Texas. Imported from Mexico, Cholula boasts a rich, smoky flavor that Texans often sprinkle on their tacos, eggs, soup, pizza and just about anything else you can imagine.

We were pretty excited to find Cholula in a single-serve pouch - - and happy that we can include it in our Trailside Bean & Cheese Burrito meal pack for an easy way to add an authentic kick to your lunch.

Canola Oil Now Available in a Packet

We were delighted to find olive oil in a packet some time ago – it’s so hard to carry oil into the backcountry and these little packets of olive oil solved our problems with leaky containers. So you can imagine our excitement when we found canola oil in packets as well!

Marconi’s canola/olive oil blend combines these two high quality oils into one small single serving packet – 75% canola and 25% olive oil. So for those dishes where the discreet flavor of canola is preferred to the full punch of olive oil . . . this one’s the ticket.

Update: The packaging changed recently to the package shown on the right. It's too bad because now it doesn't really say what's in the package (75% canola oil & 25% olive oil) it just says Salad & Sandwich Oil. Oh well, at least the same great product comes inside!

Playing Dress Up

We’ve added two new salad dressing pouches to the grocery store – honey mustard and blue cheese.

We’re big fans of the Honey Mustard both for it’s great tangy flavor and it’s pouch design. We love a nice honey mustard glaze basted over a freshly caught grilling fish and thought you might too – go on, give it a try! This little pouch has a great feature: it’s designed with a spout at the top so that once you rip open the dressing, you can still easily direct the flow without it spurting out uncontrollably. Ingenious!


The new Blue Cheese is also delicious (even if it does come in a more standard pouch). Strong and unique flavors, like blue cheese, aren’t often found on the trail. In addition to making a great dipping sauce, blue cheese dressing offers a delicious change to wraps – fabulous brushed over burgers or grilled beef (if you’re packing meat in), in pasta or used as a dip.

A Salt Free Seasoning Blend?

We were very happy to come across a packet of all natural seasoning that contains no salt – Mrs. Dash Original Seasoning Blend.

If you’ve ever wanted to add a little flavor punch to a pre-packaged meal or mix . . . . but didn’t want more salt and didn’t have the room to carry more than an essential few spices in your pack – Mrs. Dash just might be the answer.

Here’s the ingredients list:

• Onion
• Spices
• black pepper, parsley, celery seed, basil, bay, marjoram, oregano, savory, thyme, cayenne pepper, coriander, cumin, mustard, rosemary
• Garlic
• Carrot
• Orange Peel
• Tomato
• Lemon Juice Powder
• Citric Acid
• Oil of Lemon

Pretty nice, eh? We’ve tried it in soups, eggs and mashed potatoes - - all good – and it’s great sprinkled over grilling fish too!