How freeze-dried beef heart smells and feels

Does freeze-dried beef heart smell? A little, yes. It is an organ treat, so open the bag and you will notice it. The brand rates it the mildest of its beef set, milder in smell than liver, and describes it as dry and not greasy. It will not smell like nothing.

How strong does freeze-dried beef heart smell?

Honestly, it smells like meat. Not perfume, not a candle, not nothing. Freeze-dried beef heart is raw beef heart with the water taken out. You will catch it when you open the bag, and so will any dog within the same room.

We do not have a scent measurement to give you, and we will not invent one. What we have is the brand's own comparison with the other bags it makes, which is the next section. The short version for someone in a small apartment: it is the one to start with if you are worried about smell, not the one to expect to be odorless.

How does heart compare with liver and tripe for smell?

The brand's own comparison puts the three in an order. Liver is dense and crumbly, and has the strongest smell. Tripe has a strong barnyard smell. Heart is lean muscle meat, chewier, and the mildest of the three.

That is the brand describing its own products, and your nose gets the final vote. The brand also files heart in a category of its own: classed as offal but eats like lean muscle meat.

The brand also says heart is firmer than liver and milder in smell than liver. If you are choosing between organ treats mostly by what your household can stand, heart is the easy pick on the brand's own rating. For the bigger question of what kind of food heart is, see our guide to whether beef heart is organ meat.

What does it feel like in the hand?

Dry and firm, with no grease left on your fingers. Pieces snap into smaller bits, which is handy for rewards, and the whole bag is light.

Here is how the brand rates it, in its own words:

• Dry, not greasy
• Firmer than liver
• Medium piece
• Crunch 3 of 5 on the brand's scorecard

The trio page from the same brand calls heart chewier than liver, and the scorecard says crunch 3 of 5. Both are the brand's descriptions, and they are talking about different things: chew against liver on one hand, snap on the other. Pick up a piece and it will settle the argument faster than we can.

Is it greasy in a pocket or pouch?

The brand says dry, not greasy, and light in a pouch. That is the brand's description, and it is the reason pockets stay clean.

So a few pieces in a coat pocket or a treat pouch should not leave a mark, and the pocket should not smell any stronger than the bag. Keep the bag resealed between uses; the bag asks you to close it again after opening and store it cool and dry. If a pocket gets warm or damp, that is the bag's problem to solve, not the treat's: seal it back up.

Wash your hands after handling, because the beef heart is freeze dried raw. It comes from a Pennsylvania farm and has no other ingredient in it, so what you smell is the beef heart and nothing else.

What is it like living with an open bag at home or in the car?

In the house, reseal the bag after each use and keep it somewhere cool and dry. A closed bag in a cabinet is quiet. Most of the smell escapes when the bag is open, so the trick is to shorten the open time.

In the car, the same rule applies: a sealed bag riding in the console is fine, an open bag riding in a warm back seat is something you will remember later. Reseal, store cool, and the glove box stays a glove box.

It is shelf stable and needs no refrigeration, according to the product page, so there is no cooler requirement. The bag does not state a shelf life, so we will not either.

The product page has the sizes and the label details, and the guides hub lists every guide. One last reminder. The bag says: "Not intended as a complete diet."