SOUTH AFRICA'S FAVOURITE SNACK - BILTONG

Photocredit: www.freddyhirsch.co.za

A favourite snack for South Africans is biltong – Raw dried salted and spiced meat. Sausages ("droë wors") are also similarly dried. I personally prefer beef or venison. A typical biltong spice mix contains coarse salt, pepper, ground coriander seeds, vinegar, brown sugar, etc. Drying the meat can take several days, but the process can be sped-up by using a drier biltong- maker. See the photo of my home-made biltong-maker below.

This a wooden box with racks where the prepared meat is hung to dry. A re-purposed loudspeaker fan draws air through the box to speed up the drying process. A filament light globe heats up and dries out the air and assists with the process.   Biltong is an important element of South African culture and this process of meat preservation had its origins in the indigenous peoples who lived here and cured their meat using salt. When the Dutch settlers came to the Cape they brought new spices from the East and they also started using these and they also started using game meat such as springbok, impala, eland and wildebeest. The biltong started resembling the biltong we know today.  The Voortrekkers who migrated from the Cape to escape British rule, travelled to the North. They desperately needed food that would provide nutrition without going off.   

For recipes I suggest : www.freddyhirsch.co.za  - My favourite spice suppliers.