Biltong is South Africa's great dried beef: strips of lean meat marinated in vinegar, seasoned with coriander and black pepper, then dried slowly until the flavour concentrates into something no crisp or salted peanut can compete with. If you've only ever met it as a small imported packet on a British shelf, gone in four bites, there is rather more to the story. This guide covers what biltong actually is, where it comes from, how it's made, what separates it from its American cousin jerky, how South Africans eat it, and how to make a proper batch of your own at home.
What is biltong?
Biltong is a dried meat snack, most often beef, preserved with vinegar, salt and spice rather than heat. The classic recipe is beautifully short: coriander seed, black pepper, salt and vinegar, and that little list has been doing the job for centuries. The vinegar tenderises the meat and helps keep it safe, the salt draws out moisture, and the coriander gives biltong the warm, citrusy edge that no other dried meat has. Once marinated, the strips are hung up to dry until they reach the texture the maker is after.
The name tells you exactly what you're looking at. It comes from Dutch: bil, meaning rump, and tong, meaning strip or tongue. Rump strips. Nobody has ever accused the Dutch of overcomplicating a name.
Texture is where biltong gets personal. It's made and sold along a whole spectrum, from moist and tender through to firm and properly dry, and every biltong lover holds a strong opinion about where on that line perfection sits. A useful marker for the middle ground: medium biltong should bend without snapping.
What is the history of biltong?
Biltong belongs to southern Africa as a whole: South Africa most famously, along with Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia. People there, as everywhere, had been preserving meat for thousands of years with essentially the same two tools, salt and dry air, because before refrigeration those were the only tools going.
Biltong as we know it today took shape in the 17th century, during the Dutch colonisation of southern Africa. Meat had been cured and dried long before the settlers arrived, but the Dutch added the two things that made biltong biltong: vinegar, and the spices we still associate with it today, coriander and black pepper. Preserved meat that kept for weeks without a fridge was priceless on long overland journeys through hot, remote country, and the recipe travelled everywhere the wagons went.
What's remarkable is how little has changed since. The classic biltong recipe is still coriander, black pepper, salt and vinegar, and South Africans will still argue warmly with anyone who fiddles with it.
How is biltong made?
Traditionally, with patience. The meat is marinated in vinegar and spices, then hung in a cool, dry, airy spot for days on end, monitored carefully the whole time to make sure it stays edible. The crucial point is that biltong is dried, not cooked. Slow-moving air does the work, which is why the flavour deepens rather than roasts, and why the middle of a strip can stay tender while the outside firms up.
Drying meat for days on end is a big ask in a British kitchen, which is why our Biltong Making Kit takes a simpler road. You marinate 500g of lean beef in cider vinegar and the kit's spice mix of coriander, black pepper and Himalayan salt, using the marinating bag provided, while the flavours blend and the vinegar quietly tenderises the meat. Then you hang the strips in a low oven and let them dry gently, a couple of hours rather than days, and the method is pretty much foolproof. Prefer a bit of fire? There's an optional chilli and garlic seasoning in the box as well, which turns classic biltong into spicy biltong in one move.
There's no cure involved anywhere, no nitrites, nothing you'd need a chemistry degree to read. Just beef, vinegar and seasonings, the same short list the original makers relied on. You judge doneness the traditional way too: the strips should feel firm and dry to the touch and bend without snapping, and if you like yours firmer, you simply dry them for longer. The kit makes two 500g batches, which sounds like a great deal of biltong until you actually make some.
How is biltong different from jerky?
Both are dried meat snacks, and that's roughly where the similarities end. Seen from the biltong side of the fence, the differences stack up quickly:
- The vinegar. Biltong is marinated in vinegar and spices before it ever starts drying, which tenderises the meat, helps preserve it and gives the finished strips their signature tang. Jerky skips the vinegar entirely and relies on its seasoning and the drying itself.
- The drying. Traditional biltong is air-dried in cool, moving air, never cooked. Jerky is American-style: sliced thin, seasoned and dried in the oven.
- The cut. Biltong is traditionally dried in thick whole strips and sliced to serve. Jerky is cut thin before it ever meets the heat.
- The flavour. Biltong is tangy and aromatic, with coriander doing the talking. Jerky leans smoky, savoury and often sweet.
- The texture. Jerky offers one satisfying, uniform chew from edge to edge. Biltong spans a whole spectrum, from soft and moist to hard and dry, often with a tender heart inside a firmer crust.
One taste of that warm coriander spice and you know instantly which side of the Atlantic your snack calls home. We should confess we love both, which is why our Beef Jerky Making Kit exists to represent the American branch of the family. But if we're choosing one dried meat for the desert island, the vinegar wins.
How do South Africans eat biltong?
Constantly, is the honest answer. In South Africa biltong isn't a delicacy, it's an everyday food. It's sold by weight from dedicated biltong shops and counters, often eaten straight from the bag on the way home, packed for road trips, passed round at rugby matches and tucked into lunchboxes. Beef is the everyday standard, but you'll also find biltong made from game such as springbok and kudu, alongside its dried sausage cousin, droëwors.
Beyond straightforward snacking, sliced or shredded biltong turns up scattered over salads and pizzas, because a concentrated hit of savoury dried beef improves most things it lands on. Mostly, though, biltong is eaten the way it always has been: from the hand, in good company, rather faster than anyone intended.
Should you make your own biltong or buy it?
In South Africa the question barely needs asking, because good biltong is everywhere. In Britain the picture is different. Imported biltong tends to arrive in small packets, and someone else has already decided how dry, how spicy and how thick your biltong should be. For a food whose whole character is a spectrum, that seems a shame.
Make it at home and every one of those decisions comes back to you. You choose the beef, and a lean, tender cut such as an inexpensive steak or a small roasting joint works beautifully, with any fat trimmed away because fat doesn't dry well. You choose classic or spicy. And you take it from the oven at exactly the texture you love, soft and moist or firm and dry. The Biltong Making Kit is the easiest way in, with everything you need in the box except the beef. And if one dried meat is unlikely to be enough, the Ultimate Meat Making Kit adds bacon and jerky making to your repertoire.
Storage, should any batch survive long enough to need storing: an airtight container keeps well-dried biltong happy for a couple of weeks, and refrigerating it stretches that further. Our favourite trick is to pile a finished batch into a mason jar and take it to a party instead of a bottle of wine. It has never once come home again.
Biltong FAQs
What does the word biltong mean?
It comes from Dutch: bil means rump, and tong means strip or tongue. The name literally describes the long strips of rump traditionally hung up to dry.
Is biltong raw?
Biltong is dried rather than cooked, which is exactly how it has been made for centuries. The vinegar, the salt and thorough drying are what keep the meat safe, and if you're ever in doubt with a home batch, simply dry it a little longer. Our kit's simplified method uses a low oven purely to speed that drying along.
Is biltong spicy?
Classic biltong is aromatic rather than hot. Coriander and black pepper bring warmth and fragrance, not fire. Spicy versions are much loved too, and our kit includes an optional chilli and garlic seasoning for exactly that purpose.
How long does biltong keep?
Well-dried biltong keeps for a couple of weeks in an airtight container, and refrigerating it extends that further. The drier the biltong, the better it keeps, so if yours still feels moist, enjoy it sooner. In our experience this is rarely a hardship.
What's the best cut of beef for biltong?
As lean as possible, and reasonably tender: an inexpensive steak or a roasting joint is ideal. Trim away any fat you can find, because fat doesn't dry properly and won't do your biltong any favours.
Does biltong contain preservatives?
Traditional biltong needs none, and neither does ours. There's no cure in the recipe at all: the vinegar, the salt and proper drying do the preserving, just as they have since the 17th century.
Ready to make your first batch? Browse our meat making kits, hand-packed in Britain with free UK delivery over £25.
