Types of Biltong: Cuts, Moisture, Spice and the Game Varieties

Published August 29, 2026 Updated September 25, 2026

The types of biltong sort along four dials: the cut of meat, the moisture level, the spice profile and the animal it came from. Beef silverside, cut with the grain, spiced with coriander and dried to a medium is the default — everything else is a turn of one dial.

Most of the confusion in a biltong shop comes from people comparing across dials: asking for "dry" when they mean lean, or "fillet" when they mean tender. Sort the dials out first and the whole category makes sense. It's simpler than the shop labels make it look.

I grew up with all of these within arm's reach — car biltong, rugby biltong, braai biltong. Nobody explained the system because nobody needed to, and I didn't notice there was one. Here's the explanation I'd have given you at the counter.

Different types of biltong sliced to show moisture level and fat cap on air-dried beef

The four axes at a glance

Axis	Options	What it changes
Cut	Silverside, topside, eye of round, rump, fillet	Grain, tenderness, fat, price
Moisture	Wet, medium, dry, stokkies	Texture, chew, how long it keeps
Spice	Traditional, chili, garlic, peri-peri, BBQ	Flavor only
Animal	Beef, game, ostrich, venison	Leanness, flavor, legal availability

Types of biltong by cut

The cut decides the grain, and the grain decides the chew. Biltong's cut with the grain into long strips — the opposite of how you'd slice a steak — which is why a good piece pulls apart in fibers instead of crumbling.

Silverside. The traditional choice and still the benchmark. Long straight fibers, low intramuscular fat, a natural fat cap you can leave on or trim off.
Topside. Slightly more tender than silverside, similar leanness. The usual substitute where silverside's hard to find.
Eye of round. The American butcher's closest match to silverside, and what most US-produced biltong is cut from. Uniform, very lean, easy to portion.
Rump. Richer and fattier. Popular in South Africa with people who want a fat cap and a softer bite.
Fillet biltong. The premium version, cut from tenderloin. Very tender, very expensive, and it dries fast because the pieces are small. Purists say it wastes a fillet. They aren't entirely wrong.

If you're choosing a cut to dry yourself, the detail's in the best cut of beef for biltong.

Types of biltong by moisture level

This is the dial people mean when they ask for "proper" biltong, and the one shops label least consistently. Moisture is set by how long the strips hang and at what humidity.

Wet. Pulled early. Deep red through the middle, soft, almost rare-looking. Keeps the shortest and needs the fridge.
Medium. Firm edge, red center, still yielding. The most common commercial spec and what most people mean by "normal".
Dry. Dark all the way through, snaps rather than bends, concentrated flavor. Keeps the longest.
Stokkies. Afrikaans for "little sticks". Thin strips dried hard all the way through. Not a separate recipe — it's a shape and a moisture level, usually eaten as a stick rather than sliced.

Wetter biltong isn't undercooked and drier biltong isn't stale; they're different points on the same drying curve. Storage differs for each; that's covered in storing biltong without drying it out.

Types of biltong by spice

The traditional cure is short: vinegar, salt, coarse coriander, black pepper, sometimes fennel. Everything else is a house variation, and you'll spot most of them on the label.

Traditional or original. Coriander-forward, toasted, mildly warm from black pepper. The reference flavor.
Chili. The traditional cure with dried chili added before drying. Heat sits behind the coriander rather than replacing it.
Garlic. Common in South African butcheries, usually dried garlic rather than fresh.
Peri-peri. Sharper, more acidic heat from African bird's eye chili.
BBQ, honey, teriyaki and friends. Imported from the American jerky aisle. They almost always bring sugar with them — worth knowing if the ingredient panel is what brought you to biltong in the first place.

Ours runs two: The Classic for the traditional coriander cure, and Hill Country Heat for the chili version. The Classic is beef, salt, pepper, coriander, Worcestershire sauce and white vinegar — no MSG, no artificial additives; full ingredients on every bag.

Types of biltong by animal

Beef's the default worldwide. In South Africa the game varieties are ordinary supermarket stock, and they're the main thing visitors come home talking about.

Beef. The classic. Balanced flavor, available everywhere, forgiving to dry.
Kudu. The most prized game biltong. Very lean, deep flavor, slightly sweet.
Springbok. Finer grained and more delicate than kudu.
Eland and blesbok. Less common, richer, both traditional.
Ostrich. Extremely lean, dark, closer in flavor to beef than to poultry.
Venison. The North American equivalent, usually white-tailed deer, and mostly home-dried rather than sold.

Which types you can actually buy in the US

Beef biltong from a USDA-inspected facility is straightforward. Game biltong generally isn't, and it's not the shop's fault. South African beef and game products face long-standing US import restrictions tied to animal disease control, so the kudu and springbok sold in Johannesburg isn't something a US shop can legally import and stock.

What you'll find here is beef, produced domestically, and occasionally ostrich or venison from a US-inspected supplier. That's also why so many South Africans in Texas end up drying their own or hunting for a local producer. The import rules are laid out in why biltong is hard to import into the United States.

The related forms: droëwors, shavings and whole slab

Droëwors. Not biltong. It's boerewors sausage hung to dry instead of grilled — coriander-heavy, thin, snappy. See what droëwors is.
Shavings and dust. Very thinly sliced or milled biltong. Shavings go on salads and eggs; biltong dust is what collects at the bottom of the bag, and it's worth keeping for potatoes.
Whole slab. Full-length pieces sold uncut so you slice to your own thickness. Keeps better than sliced because there's less exposed surface, and you're not paying someone to slice it.

FAQ

What are the different types of biltong?

Biltong varies along four axes: cut, moisture level, spice and animal. Cuts include silverside, topside, eye of round, rump and fillet. Moisture runs from wet through medium and dry to stokkies. Spice profiles include traditional, chili, garlic and peri-peri. Animals include beef, kudu, springbok, eland, ostrich and venison.

What are the different types of biltong in South Africa?

In South Africa the main types of biltong are beef biltong in wet, medium and dry grades, stokkies, fillet biltong, and game biltong from kudu, springbok, eland, blesbok and ostrich. Spice variations include traditional coriander, chili, garlic and peri-peri. Droëwors, the dried coriander sausage, is sold alongside biltong but is a separate product.

What is the difference between wet and dry biltong?

Wet and dry biltong differ only in how long they were hung. Wet biltong is pulled early, stays red and soft in the center and keeps for the shortest time. Dry biltong hangs longer, darkens through, snaps when bent and keeps far longer. Medium sits between them and is the most common.

What cut of beef is biltong made from?

Biltong is traditionally cut from silverside, sliced with the grain into long strips. Topside, eye of round and rump are all standard alternatives, and eye of round is the usual choice in the United States. Fillet biltong from tenderloin is the premium version and dries faster than the larger cuts.

Can you buy kudu or springbok biltong in the US?

Game biltong such as kudu and springbok is generally not available in the United States. US import restrictions on South African beef and game products, tied to animal disease control, keep those varieties out of retail. American shops stock domestically produced beef biltong, with ostrich or venison occasionally available from US-inspected suppliers.

What are biltong stokkies?

Stokkies are thin strips of biltong dried hard the whole way through, eaten as sticks rather than sliced. The word is Afrikaans for little sticks. Stokkies use the same cure as any other biltong; they differ in shape and in being taken to a lower moisture level than wet or medium.

If what you want is the default — whole-muscle beef, sliced, mixed fat, traditional coriander cure — that's what's going into the first batch. The store isn't open yet, so the Founding 50 first-batch box is the only thing buyable right now: $100, one of 50 numbered spots, fully refunded if we never launch.

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