What is biltong?Updated 4 days ago

We've heard this one a lot over the years especially when we first started selling at farmers markets! 😄 So here's the run down.

Biltong is a delicious dried meat snack made from big chunks of beef steak, marinated in vinegar and spices. Various spices can be used to add flavour, but the most common include black pepper, coriander and sea salt.

The marinated steaks are then hung in a room that circulates air around the pieces, slowly drying them out at ambient room temperature. This keeps the biltong soft and tender throughout the drying process. Once dried, you're left with an air dried steak (aka biltong) that's sliced into thin, easy to enjoy strips.

At this point, some of you are probably thinking... "Oh, so it's like beef jerky, right?"

Well, only in that they're both dried meats. But otherwise, hell no! 😄

Most commercial beef jerky is highly processed thin strips of meat covered in artificial sauces and cooked at high temperatures inside drying ovens over a few hours. To be frank, the team at Barbell have never been beef jerky fans. Most commercial jerky is loaded with preservatives, sugars and other nasties.

Barbell Biltong is healthier and tastier than beef jerky, and contains no preservatives, dairy, gluten, soy or added sugar.

It takes 7 days to dry our biltong to perfection, and no heat is used during this process. This gives it a softer, more tender texture, a welcome contrast to the often leathery texture and artificial taste that comes with most commercial jerky on the market.

For those who are intrigued and still enjoying the read, we think you'll love our video of how we make our biltong. 🙂