By Donwynne and Amy Bergh
Jerky is sliced thin and dried with heat, often with a sweet marinade. Biltong is cured in vinegar and spice, then air-dried in thicker pieces. They're both dried meat snacks, but they're made differently, they taste different, and the label matters more than the name on the front.
Where do they come from?
Biltong is South African. The word comes from Dutch: "bil" (rump) and "tong" (strip). It grew out of a need to preserve meat without a fridge, by curing it with salt, vinegar and spices and hanging it to dry. Beef is the usual meat today, though in South Africa you'll also find it made from game.
Jerky has a different history, in the Americas, where meat was dried, often with heat or smoke, so it would keep on long journeys. The two snacks get compared because they look similar in a packet. They aren't the same thing.
If you want the longer biltong story, it's in What is biltong?.
How is the method different?
A few things set them apart:
- The cure. Biltong is typically marinated in vinegar, salt and spices, with coriander as the classic note. Jerky is usually marinated in a sauce, often with soy, Worcestershire sauce or sugar.
- The drying. Biltong is air-dried slowly, without being cooked. Jerky is usually dried with heat, in a dehydrator or oven, and is sometimes smoked.
- The cut. Biltong is dried in thicker pieces and then sliced, so the texture can be tender and a little varied. Jerky is usually cut thin before drying, which gives it a more even, chewy bite.
- The flavour. Biltong tastes of the beef and the spice, with a mild tang from the vinegar. Jerky is often sweeter and sometimes smokier.
Neither method is "right". They're different snacks, and if you like one it's worth trying the other.
Which is healthier, biltong or jerky?
It depends on the recipe, not just the name. Some jerky is fairly plain. A lot of it is sweetened. Some biltong is a short list of beef, vinegar, salt and spice. Other packs have more going on. The only reliable approach is to read the ingredients and the nutrition panel.
For ours, a 35g pack of biltong has 109kcal, 18.8g of protein, 0.6g of carbohydrate and 0.9g of salt. We don't add sugars. Our beef sticks are a different shape (more like droëwors than jerky) and a richer snack, with 193kcal and 15.3g of protein in a 40g pack. The full numbers are in Is biltong healthy?.
Both biltong and jerky are dried meats, and most will count as processed meat in the NHS sense if they are cured, salted or preserved. Salt is usually part of the method, so it's worth counting if you've been asked to cut down.
How does shelf life compare?
Because both are dried, unopened packs usually keep at room temperature until the best-before date. Our packs have a shelf life of 12 months from packing. Keep them in a cool, dry place out of direct sunlight.
Once opened, eat our biltong or beef sticks within 24 hours, though in our experience an open pack rarely lasts that long. Other brands set their own opened-pack guidance, so follow the label in your hand. There's more in How to store biltong.
What about droëwors and beef sticks?
Droëwors is biltong's close cousin: a thin, spiced, air-dried sausage, rather than sliced whole beef. Our beef sticks are made in that style, with the same ingredients as our Original biltong. They're the ones we take on walks, because they don't need slicing and they sit happily in a pocket. There's a fuller explanation in Biltong, droewors and beef sticks.
How do we make ours?
All our beef is 100% pasture-fed British beef, from Farm Wilder farms across South West England. It's marinated overnight in apple cider vinegar and our spice blend, then air-dried for about a week. If you want to compare flavours, The Whole Herd mixed 6-pack has one of everything, including two beef sticks, for £24.99.