Is Meat Candy gluten-free?
No, Meat Candy is not gluten-free. Both flavors, Hickory Kickory Dock and Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep, use a soy sauce made from water, soybeans, wheat, salt, and sodium benzoate, so wheat is present in every bag. This is a real, permanent difference from Grub Company's biltong, which is gluten-free. If you need a gluten-free snack, biltong is the Grub Company product to buy, not Meat Candy.
Is Meat Candy soy-free?
No, Meat Candy contains soy. The soy sauce used across both flavors is made from water, soybeans, wheat, salt, and sodium benzoate, and soy sauce is a core ingredient in the BBQ marinade for both Hickory Kickory Dock and Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep. Grub Company's biltong is soy-free, so anyone avoiding soy should choose biltong over Meat Candy.
Is Meat Candy kosher?
Yes, Meat Candy is Certified Glatt Kosher by Harav Weissmandl and Aleph K. Both Hickory Kickory Dock and Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep carry this certification, so a shopper doesn't need to check flavor by flavor. Grub Company's biltong carries the same Glatt Kosher certification, so both product lines meet the same kosher standard.
Does Meat Candy contain sugar or honey?
Yes, both. Meat Candy's BBQ sauce base includes sugar and corn syrup, and both flavors are finished with brown sugar, maple syrup, and honey layered on top. Meat Candy is not sugar-free, not low-sugar, and not a fit for a keto or paleo diet. This is different from Grub Company's biltong, which has no added sugar in its ingredient list.
Is Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep made from lamb?
No, Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep is 100% beef. The name is a whimsical nursery-rhyme reference to "Baa Baa Black Sheep," in keeping with Grub Company's playful naming across the Meat Candy line, and it has nothing to do with the actual meat used. Every ingredient on the panel starts with the same real, premium sliced beef used across both Meat Candy flavors.
How is Meat Candy different from Grub Company's biltong?
Meat Candy is cooked and smoked with a sauce-based marinade, while biltong is air-dried and vinegar-cured with no cooking involved. That process difference carries through to the ingredients and the eating experience: Meat Candy is sweet, smoky, and contains wheat, soy, and added sugar, while biltong is clean, savory, gluten-free, soy-free, and has no added sugar. Neither is a lesser version of the other, they're built for different moments.
What's the shelf life of Meat Candy, and how should I store it?
An unopened bag of Meat Candy is shelf-stable at room temperature, the same as most cooked, smoked jerky, so it doesn't need refrigeration before you open it. Once a bag is opened, reseal it tightly or move it to an airtight container and keep it in a cool, dry place to hold onto its texture and flavor. If you're not going to finish an opened bag quickly, refrigerating it is a safe extra step.
Is Meat Candy spicy?
It depends on the flavor. Hickory Kickory Dock carries a real Tabasco-driven kick behind its sweetness, Grub Company describes it as "spicy-sweet with a kick." Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep also contains Tabasco sauce but leans more on bourbon, cumin, and tomato powder for a tangier Korean BBQ profile, with the heat sitting further in the background. Neither flavor is extremely hot, but Hickory Kickory Dock is the spicier of the two.
How much does Meat Candy cost, and what size is a bag?
Both Meat Candy flavors, Hickory Kickory Dock and Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep, are $7.99 for a 2oz bag. The price and portion size are identical across the line, so the only real decision is which flavor profile you want, not which one costs more or comes in a bigger bag. Buying one of each is a straightforward way to try both flavors side by side before settling on a favorite.
Can I eat Meat Candy if I'm avoiding gluten, soy, or added sugar?
No, Meat Candy isn't a fit if you're avoiding any of those three. It contains wheat and soy through its soy sauce base, plus brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, and corn syrup as added sugar. Grub Company's biltong is the better choice if you need a snack that's gluten-free, soy-free, and has no added sugar.
What makes Meat Candy's quality the same as biltong's, even though the flavor is different?
Both lines start from the same standard: real, premium beef, and nothing else, no mechanically separated chicken, no ground "mystery beef," and no leftover scraps. Meat Candy and biltong both begin with top-quality sliced beef before the process splits, one goes into the smoker with a sauce marinade, the other goes into an air-dry vinegar cure. The quality of the beef itself doesn't change between the two lines, only the process and flavor direction do.
