A traditional biltong spice blend is built on three things: coriander seed, black pepper and salt, with vinegar doing the fourth job as a marinade rather than a dry spice. That is the South African method in a sentence, and it is why biltong tastes nothing like American jerky even though both are dried beef. Coriander gives it the warm, citrussy backbone, pepper gives it bite, salt draws out moisture, and vinegar sharpens the flavour while helping to protect the meat as it dries.
Our Biltong Making Kit follows that tradition: cider vinegar and a spice mix of coriander, pepper and Himalayan salt, with a chilli and garlic blend to add if you like a bit of heat. No cure, no preservatives, just seasoning and your own lean beef. Here is what each part is actually doing, and how to use the blend well.
What goes into a biltong spice blend?
Strip away regional variations and every biltong recipe in South Africa comes back to the same short list.
- Coriander seed. The signature. Warm, slightly citrussy, a little sweet, and used in far greater quantity than most British cooks would expect.
- Black pepper. Coarsely cracked rather than finely ground, so it sits on the surface and gives an occasional sharp hit rather than an even background heat.
- Salt. Ours is Himalayan salt. Salt seasons, but it also draws moisture to the surface where it can evaporate, which is preservation as much as flavour.
- Vinegar. Cider vinegar in our kit. Not a spice, but as much a part of the recipe as anything in the sachet.
- Chilli and garlic, optional. The kit includes a chilli and garlic blend, and adding it takes the biltong in a spicier direction without changing the method.
What is not on the list is just as telling. There is no sugar glaze, no soy, no smoke and no cure, which is exactly where biltong parts company with jerky. Jerky is sliced, seasoned and oven-dried in the American style. Biltong is marinated in vinegar and spices first, then dried, and that vinegar step is the fork in the road.
Why so much coriander?
Coriander seed is the one ingredient that makes biltong taste like biltong. It is warm and gently citrussy, with a hint of orange peel about it, and it has an unusual talent for sitting alongside beef without ever fighting it. Where pepper announces itself and salt sharpens, coriander rounds everything off.
Two things improve it further if you are grinding your own. Toast the seeds briefly in a dry pan until they smell fragrant, which wakes up the aromatic oils, and then crack them coarsely rather than grinding them to dust. Coarse coriander clings to the wet surface of vinegar-dampened beef and forms the speckled crust that makes a good piece of biltong so recognisable. Ground to a powder, it turns into a paste and loses that texture entirely.
There is a practical reason for the generosity, too. A good deal of the spice ends up on the rack and on your fingers rather than in the finished biltong, so what looks like too much at the seasoning stage is usually about right by the time it is dry.
What does the vinegar actually do?
Three jobs at once. It flavours, adding the tang that cuts through rich beef and stops a dried snack tasting heavy. It helps preserve, because an acidic surface is a less welcoming place for spoilage to start, which is why the vinegar step evolved long before anyone had a fridge. And it helps the spices stick, since dry seasoning bounces off dry meat, while a vinegar-damp surface takes a coating beautifully.
The technique is simple: marinate lean beef in the cider vinegar and spice mix, adding the chilli and garlic blend if you want heat, then dry it. Our simplified method gets you there in a couple of hours rather than the days traditional air-drying takes.
Do not drown the meat, though. You want the beef damp and coated, not swimming, because sodden meat takes far longer to firm up and dries unevenly.
How do you use the blend, step by step?
Start with the right beef. For biltong, a more tender cut suits it: an inexpensive steak or a roasting joint both work well. Lean is what matters most, because fat does not dry properly and will not keep. You need around 500g of beef per batch, and the kit covers two 500g batches.
Then work through it in order:
- Trim and slice. Remove every scrap of visible fat and any sinew. Traditional biltong is cut into thicker strips than jerky, which is where its chewy, steak-like character comes from.
- Marinate. Coat the strips in the cider vinegar and spice mix, making sure every surface is seasoned, and give it the time the booklet specifies.
- Dry. Follow the kit's method, either hanging the strips or laying them out with space between each one so air can reach all sides. Pieces that touch stay damp where they meet.
- Check it early. Every oven is different, so on your first batch start testing sooner than you think you need to.
How dry is a matter of taste. Softer and moister, or drier and firmer, is genuinely your call: dry it longer for firmer biltong. At medium, it should bend without snapping. Well dried biltong also keeps far better, so if you are making a batch to last rather than to eat that evening, err towards the firmer end.
Can you mix your own blend afterwards?
You can, and once you have made a couple of batches with the kit you will have a feel for the ratios. The core is coriander, pepper and salt, with vinegar as the marinade, and everything after that is personal. Some households lean heavily on the coriander, others crack in more pepper, and a chilli and garlic addition is common where a bit of heat is wanted.
Keep a note of what you use, taste a piece from every batch, and adjust one thing at a time. That is how every family recipe came about, and it beats hunting for a definitive version that does not exist.
Store the finished biltong in an airtight container. Well dried, it keeps for a couple of weeks, and refrigerating extends that further. If it still feels moist when you pack it, it will not keep as long, so eat that batch sooner. Which, in our experience, is not a problem anybody has ever struggled with.
Biltong spice FAQs
What is in a traditional biltong spice?
Coriander seed, black pepper and salt, used with vinegar as a marinade. Our kit uses coriander, pepper and Himalayan salt with cider vinegar, plus an optional chilli and garlic blend.
What is the difference between biltong and jerky?
Jerky is the American style: sliced, seasoned and oven-dried. Biltong is South African, marinated with vinegar and spices such as coriander and black pepper before drying. We make a separate kit for each.
Does the biltong kit contain a cure or preservatives?
No. The biltong and jerky recipes use no cure at all, just the seasoning blends and your own beef. Only our bacon recipes use a traditional dry cure.
Which cut of beef is best for biltong?
A more tender cut, such as an inexpensive steak or a roasting joint. Trim off all visible fat, since fat does not dry well and shortens how long the batch keeps.
How dry should biltong be?
To your taste. Dry it longer for firmer biltong, and at medium it should bend without snapping. Firmer biltong keeps noticeably better.
Fancy a batch with your name on it? Browse our meat kits, hand-packed in Britain.
