Market Stall · Air-Dried Meat
Biltong
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Unlike American jerky, biltong is never smoked or cooked with heat — it's cured and simply air-dried, a technique that traces back to Voortrekker wagon trains preserving meat without refrigeration.
Biltong is strips of beef (or game like kudu and ostrich) marinated in vinegar, salt, coriander, and black pepper, then air-cured for days until firm and deeply flavorful. Market stalls and dedicated biltong butchers slice it fresh to order, weighing it out by the gram into paper bags for snacking on the go.
Why it's made this way: The vinegar cure and open-air drying method were developed out of necessity on 19th-century ox-wagon treks across the veld, and the name itself comes from the Dutch words for 'rump' and 'strip.'
Roughly what's in it
150kcal
25gprotein
2gcarbs
5gfat
Estimated per typical street-vendor portion — not lab-tested.
More from South Africa
Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries.
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