The Story of Biltong: South Africa's Original Snack

Long before vacuum packs and protein labels, there was a strip of salted, spiced beef hanging in the dry air of the African veld. That's biltong, and its story is older, wilder, and a good deal more interesting than most snacks can claim.

Born on the move

Biltong didn't start in a factory. The indigenous Khoikhoi people of southern Africa were curing and drying meat with salt long before European ships ever appeared on the horizon. When Dutch settlers arrived in the 1600s, they brought vinegar, pepper, and a serious love of coriander, and the two traditions met somewhere in the middle.

The snack truly earned its stripes during the Great Trek of the 1830s, when Voortrekker families loaded ox-wagons and pushed hundreds of dusty kilometres inland. No fridges, no shops, no guarantees. Meat had to last. So they salted it, soaked it in vinegar, rolled it in coriander and pepper, and hung it to dry. The result kept for weeks and travelled like a champion. The name is pure practicality, too: it comes from the Dutch words bil (rump) and tong (strip).

What actually makes biltong, biltong

Here's where biltong parts ways with its American cousin, jerky. Jerky is usually sliced thin and dried with low heat, often wearing a smoky, sweet marinade. Biltong is a different animal, literally and figuratively.

Classic biltong starts with thicker cuts, gets a vinegar cure, and leans hard on coriander as its signature spice. Then comes the patient part: it's air-dried, not cooked. Hung in cool, moving air for days, it firms up slowly while keeping that deep, beefy character. Slice into a good piece and you'll see the gradient, darker and drier at the edges, richer toward the middle. That texture is the entire point.

It's an honest snack, as well. Traditional biltong is mostly just beef, salt, vinegar, and spice: high in protein and light on the mystery ingredients. No miracles promised here, just good meat done properly.

The biltong family tree

Biltong rarely travels alone. Its closest relative is droëwors, literally "dry sausage," a coriander-spiced snack that's basically biltong's hand-held sibling. If you've never tried it, the Biltong Premium Droëwors Original is a proper introduction.

Then there's the wild side. Back home, biltong is made from everything from beef to springbok to kudu, and we keep that spirit alive on our shelves. QINA Springbok Sliced Biltong delivers a leaner, refined bite, while QINA Beef Sliced Biltong sticks to the traditional recipe with premium Namibian beef. Want a no-nonsense classic? Indiana Biltong Original does the air-dried, vinegar-cured thing exactly the way the trekkers would recognise.

Taste a bit of history

Biltong has outlasted ox-wagons, oceans, and a few centuries of snacking fashions. Not bad for some salted beef hung up to dry. And the best way to understand it is still the original way: tear off a piece and chew.

Ready to meet the snack that fuelled a continent's road trips? Explore the full biltong collection and pick your first piece of history.