What Is Biltong? South Africa's Air-Dried Beef, Explained
Biltong is whole-muscle beef cured in vinegar and spices, then air-dried for days — never cooked. Born in South Africa 400 years ago, this South African snack is tender like dry-aged steak, with serious, protein-packed nutrition. Americans usually meet it and ask the same three questions: what is it, is it raw, and why isn't it beef jerky. Here are the answers.
What is biltong?
Biltong is a traditional South African dried meat snack made by curing whole-muscle beef in vinegar and salt, seasoning it with toasted coriander, and hanging it in moving air for days until roughly half its weight in water has gone. No oven touches it at any point. The name is literal Afrikaans — bil (rump) plus tong (strip) — and the method predates refrigeration by centuries. On an American shelf the same thing is often labelled air-dried beef, because most US shoppers have not met the word yet. The full etymology and the history are in what biltong means and where the word comes from.
What is biltong made of? The cure and the spice mix
Beef, salt, pepper, coriander, Worcestershire sauce and white vinegar — no MSG, no artificial additives; full ingredients and allergens on the bag. Time. Nothing a grandpa wouldn't recognize. The classic South African cure is built on coriander seeds, black pepper and salt, with regional cures adding brown sugar or clove; older recipes leaned on saltpetre (potassium nitrate) as a preservative, which most modern producers have dropped. What each spice is actually doing is broken down in biltong seasoning, and the macros in full are in is biltong keto, paleo, carnivore?
How is biltong made? The curing process
Whole-muscle cuts of meat — traditionally silverside, sometimes sirloin or fillets of meat — are cut along the grain of the muscle, dipped in a vinegar cure (a marinade in reverse: it preserves instead of sweetens), seasoned with salt and toasted coriander, and hung in cool moving air to air-dry for days — no ovens, ever. The drying process is what defines it: salt and vinegar pull the moisture out, airflow finishes the job, and the salted meat ends up shelf-stable without heat. In southern Africa the same method turns beef and game — kudu, springbok, game meats such as ostrich — into traditional biltong; the method began as a way to preserve meat long before refrigeration. The full step-by-step, plus the Khoikhoi-to-Voortrekker history: How Biltong Is Made → · Which cut to use: the best cut of beef for biltong · The full taxonomy: types of biltong.
Is biltong raw? Is it cooked?
Biltong is never cooked — but it isn't raw either. Whole-muscle beef takes a vinegar-and-salt cure, then hangs in moving air for days until it's ready. The cure drops the surface pH and pulls moisture, and days of airflow finish the job — the same food preservation logic behind prosciutto, salami, and every great dried cured meat. Peer-reviewed research meeting the USDA-FSIS standard confirms the process achieves a 5-log pathogen reduction with no heat step. Four centuries of South Africans got there first.
Biltong vs beef jerky: what's the difference?
They look similar on a shelf and they are not the same thing. Beef jerky is thin-sliced, usually marinated in something sweet, and cooked with heat — an oven or a dehydrator. Biltong is cured whole, in thick strips, with vinegar and spice, and air-dried without any heat at all; it is only sliced after drying, into flat pieces sliced across the grain. That is why biltong and jerky eat so differently: jerky is chewy and sweet, biltong is tender, sharp and beefy. Jerky and biltong also differ in fat — biltong is often left with a rim of fat on, which is where much of the flavour lives. The point-by-point comparison lives here: Biltong vs Jerky →
What do Americans call biltong?
Mostly, they call it jerky — and then get corrected by a South African. There is no real American equivalent. The closest cousins are air-dried European charcuterie like bresaola, not the sweet, heat-cooked meat in the jerky aisle. If you need a shorthand: it's air-dried beef.
What does biltong taste like?
Deep, concentrated beef flavour with a sharp vinegar edge and toasted spice — closer to dry-aged steak than to anything in the jerky aisle. Tender, not tough. Dangerous in the "where did the whole bag go" sense. The flavour broken down in order, and how moisture changes it: what does biltong taste like · wet vs dry biltong.
Is biltong a snack? Is it healthy to eat?
Yes — biltong is South Africa's national meat snack, eaten by the handful at rugby matches, on road trips, and everywhere in between. As a dried snack it's shelf-stable and portable, and the flavour is concentrated enough that a small bag counts as a serious snack, not a sad one. On the "is it healthy" question: it is protein-packed beef biltong with 0g sugar and nothing beyond the cure — no artificial preservatives — which is the honest answer, not a promise. Whether it fits your plan depends on your plan; the macros are in the keto article above. How it stacks up against the rest of the aisle: high-protein beef snacks, compared.
Can you make biltong at home?
Yes — homemade biltong is a national pastime in South Africa, and a good biltong recipe is passed down through generations. The short version: cut the beef into strips following the grain, splash with vinegar, toast the coriander seeds and crush them with black pepper in a pestle and mortar or spice grinder, marinate the strips in the salt and spice mix for a few hours, then hang them in a biltong box (a ventilated cabinet with a small fan and a bulb) and dry the meat for several days. Some cooks add a little bicarbonate of soda to the cure to tenderise. Perfect biltong is a matter of taste — pull it early for a wetter centre, leave it longer for dry biltong. The full method and the science behind each step: How Biltong Is Made →
Who makes Billi Tong's biltong?
Billi Tong's biltong is made in South Carolina by a USDA-inspected producer — a South African-run, USDA-inspected kitchen in South Carolina, Backcountry Beef. The bag reads "Billi Tong's Biltong — manufactured by Backcountry Beef". We run the brand from Austin.
Why is biltong expensive?
Because roughly half of it evaporates. Biltong loses about half its weight in water while it dries, so a pound of finished biltong started as about two pounds of beef — you are buying concentrated steak by weight, not a marked-up snack. The rest of the arithmetic, including lean cuts and days of drying space, is in why biltong is so expensive.
Where can I buy biltong in Austin?
Not quite yet — we are pre-launch. When Billi Tong's launches, every order ships from our kitchen in South Carolina — $15 flat shipping anywhere in the USA, free on orders over $250, tracking by email. The brand is run from Austin by Calvern Tong (yes, that's his real surname — the whole story is worth 60 seconds). Until then the only way in early is a numbered Founding 50 spot — $100 for a first-batch founder box, full refund if we never launch. More on biltong in Austin →
Storing your biltong
Cool and dry, out of the fridge, in a breathable bag. Biltong ships in a sealed bag with a paper bag — move it to the paper bag on arrival and keep it cool and dry; plastic traps moisture. Eat within two weeks of opening — a rule nobody has ever needed. Full guide: How to Store Biltong →
Keep reading
The sausage cousin: what is droëwors? → · Why biltong has no sugar → · Why was biltong illegal in the US? → · Is biltong gluten-free? → · What's actually in the cure → · The best biltong brands in the US →
More questions? FAQ · cal@btbiltong.com