Biltong

Biltong is a salty dried meat delicacy from South Africa. Word biltong is of Dutch origin. In Dutch word "bil" means "rump" and the word "tong" is a "tongue" or "strip". Biltong is usually chewed as snack. But there are people who add them to a stew or something like that.

Various types of meat are used in the production of biltong - beef, chicken, ostrich or game (like for example, kudu or impala). The one made with fish is called "bokkoms". Still the beef biltong is the most common.

Apart from meat biltong includes ingredients like sugar, salt, black pepper, coriander, garlic, nutmeg, vinegar, saltpeter (used as colouring substance) etc. Salted and spiced pieces of meat are dried on air for 10-14 days. In shops biltong is available as "wet", "medium" and "dry". It can be bought with different level of fat. Biltong made with game has less fat than the one with beef. Biltong is the most popular in South Africa. But its popularity is also growing in North America, Australia and New Zealand.