New Flavors of Spam Hit the Shelves
Portuguese Sausage spam is among Hormel's Newest flavors of Spam
By Cara Fasone
When I was growing up we used one kind of Spam in our musubi, the original one. Today, the shelves are stocked with many different varieties of Spam, the newest, Portuguese Sausage Spam inspired by Hawaii's favorite breakfast sausage.
I went home for the summer and it was hard to get my hands on a can of Portuguese Sausage Spam, locals cleaned out the shelves of every Long's! I looked on Amazon.com and someone listed it for $14.50 a can. Lucky me, my mom got a rain check and sent me a care package with a few cans of Portuguese Sausage Spam.
So, how does it compare to the original? I decided to taste a few notable flavors and rate them against the original, which I give 5 stars.
Portuguese Sausage Spam makes its debut
Photo by Cara Fasone
Portuguese Sausage Spam (3 stars)
Hawaii loves Spam and Portuguese Sausage, both breakfast
staples in the islands, so this combo made sense. Portuguese Sausage Spam made
it’s debut at the 2015 Spam Jam in Hawaii and it was on local shelves shortly
after.
I paired my Portuguese Sausage Spam with eggs and rice like the back of the can suggested. The consistency of this flavor of Spam is a little soft compared to the original, which kind of weirds me out. It does have a sausage-like taste, but isn’t as good as the real Portuguese Sausage or the original Spam. I felt the same way about the cronut, it’s not as good as a croissant or a donut!
Portuguese Sausage Spam with furikake rice and shoyu on top the eggs
Photo by Cara Fasone
Teriyaki Spam (3 stars)
Hormel launched Teriyaki Spam in 2014 with the help of
Hawaii’s own Aloha Plate, the winners of “the Great Food Truck Race.” Although
I thought it was great that Hawaii natives were working with Hormel on a new
flavor, I found Teriyaki Spam disappointing.
My grandma thought it was too cool; she couldn’t get
over the fact that it was already “babeeque,” as she would say. For me, nothing
beats grandma’s homemade shoyu-sugar sauce.
Chorizo Spam (3 stars)
If you like Mexican Chorizo, you will like the flavor
of the Chorizo flavored Spam. The spices are spot on; it tastes just like
chorizo sausage, but in the form of Spam. Just like with the Portuguese Sausage
Spam, I still like chorizo and the original Spam by itself better than its
fusion version. I can see this being
great in a breakfast burrito with eggs and potato.
Tocino Spam (5 stars)
Spam is also big in the Philippines, so Hormel introduced
this flavor, which is based on Tocino, a sweet sausage eaten with eggs
and rice for breakfast. Tocino Spam is also very hard to find. I have not seen it at the Filipino markets in Los Angeles and my
friends who went back home to the Phillipines couldn’t find it on the shelves over there, either.
My friend in Hawaii informed me that she found some at the Dillingham Foodland on Oahu,
so I got my hands on a few cans.
Tocino Spam is my favorite of the new flavors of Spam.
It is softer than the original, just like the Portuguese Sausage and Teriyaki
flavors, but I could get over the consistency because the flavor was great. Sweet and salty,
this flavor of Spam is great with eggs and rice.
Tocino Spam is my favorite of the new flavors
Photo by Cara Fasone
Jalapeno Spam (5 stars)
Jalapeno Spam tastes exactly like the original Spam, but with bits
of jalapeno, which gives it a kick. I really like it!
Spam Lite (4 stars)
Spam Lite is similar to the original, but less salty. I enjoy the really salty original, but when I’m making Spam musubi and
want to add a shoyu-sugar glaze, I use Spam Lite, so it’s not overboard salty.
My favorite way to eat Spam
Photo by Cara Fasone
I’ll always love the original Spam, I like how it gets super
crispy and is almost too salty. My other favorites are Tocino, Jalapeno and
Lite. The other flavors are a fun novelty to try once, but I probably wouldn’t
buy them again.
What are your favorite flavors of Spam?
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