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A few weeks ago Jeremy, from Columbus Naturals, emailed me asking if I would like to try their new line of deli meats. I am not real big on deli meat because I dislike all of the additives and God-knows-what that goes into them— however I always give every company that contacts me a fighting chance to intrigue me and encourage me to introduce them to my readers. About 15% of the companies that contact me make it.
This was obviously one of them.
As I read through the email Jeremy described how these new sliced meats were not only minimally processed with no fillers or additives and that the meats were all made with either pork or turkey. He further described how the animals were humanely raised on family farms that used only vegetarian feeds and no antibiotics.
I was like, you’re kidding.
I was skeptical. I mean, either the taste was going to be weird, or it was going to be cost prohibitive, or something. I agreed to try the product and a few days later a large, chilly box showed up at my door.
The timing was good. I was out of lunch stuff. The first thing I did was take pictures and then I invited my family to try the meats.
The first thing we noticed about the turkey was that it was sliced from real turkey breast. It was not smooth but you could see the grain of the meat in the slices. My personal favorite was the smoked turkey because it literally tasted like it just came out of a smoker. It was addictive. All of the turkey breast tasted like you were eating Thanksgiving leftovers. It is delicious, and comes in three flavors – regular, smoked, and honey roasted.
There are several types of salame made in the authentic Italian style. I am not sure what that is or how it works but I can tell you that the result is good and even my salame haters liked it.
Here are our tasting notes:
Italian Dry Salame – Silky mouth feel, mild spices with the occasional burst of pepper.
Sopressata – Has an afterburn that we liked a lot. Just the right amount of heat. You get the full flavor and then a slow increase of heat in your mouth. This was my favorite.
Fennel- Has a light fennel flavor at first and then it increases in the aftertaste.
Genoa Salame – Has a mild, traditional salame flavor with just a hint of fennel.
I don’t know about you but when I do buy deli meat I spend between $6.99 and 10.99 a pound. Columbus Naturals prices out at $4.99 – 5.99 a half pound so the price difference is negligible compared to the quality you are getting. I like that I am not wondering if I am eating pink slime or something.
You can look at the full line and catch all the details at their website, Columbus. You’ll see what I am talking about. I feel very confident in recommending this product.
Disclaimer: The products reviewed in this post were provided at no charge to me. No money changed hands, no promises were given on either side. All opinions are, as usual, mine and mine alone.
