As sold at the Fremantle Markets — made in Perth

Biltong isn’t jerky. It’s older, it’s air-dried rather than smoked, it’s cured with vinegar rather than sugar, and it tastes like a completely different idea about what to do with beef.

It’s also, by a distance, the best protein numbers on our shelf.

52.4g of protein. 0.4g of sugar.

That’s per 100g, and it’s on the pack.

Air-drying concentrates the meat and takes the water out. Vinegar does the curing, so there’s no need to load it with sugar the way most dried meat is. What you’re left with is more than half protein by weight, almost no sugar, and 110mg of sodium — a twelfth of what’s in our beef jerky.

If you’re eating dried meat as a protein snack rather than a treat, this is the one.

Nutrition

What’s in it

Lean Australian beef, biltong marinade, vinegar, salt.

That’s the whole list. Short, and that’s the point.

Made in Australia from at least 98% Australian ingredients.

May contain traces of tree nuts, sesame, peanuts and soy.

The four styles

• Original — the way it’s meant to taste. Coriander, vinegar, salt, beef.
• Pepper — a firm cracked black pepper crust.
• Peri Peri — proper African chilli heat, which is a different animal to the chilli in our jerky.
• Peri Peri & Garlic — the same heat with garlic underneath it. Our most-requested at the markets.

From $32.50.

How biltong is made

Biltong comes from South Africa, and the method has barely changed in two hundred years. The beef is cut into thick strips, cured in vinegar and salt, seasoned — traditionally with coriander — and then hung to air-dry.

No heat. No smoke. Just time and moving air, over days. The meat is dried whole and sliced afterwards, which is why a good slice has a dark cured edge and a paler, softer centre.

Biltong or jerky?

We sell both, so we’ve no reason to talk either of them down.

Biltong is air-dried and vinegar-cured. Savoury, tangy, beefy, tender. Very high protein, almost no sugar.

Jerky is sliced thin, marinated with salt, sugar and spices, then smoked. It dries harder and faster — that’s where the chew comes from, and the sweetness.

Buy biltong if you want something that tastes primarily of beef, or if you’re watching sugar. Buy jerky if you want smoke and a proper chew.

How to keep it

Store in a cool, dry place. Chill once opened.

Buy biltong online, or find us at the markets

Karutz Smallgoods — Fremantle Markets, 74 South Terrace, corner of Henderson Street, Fremantle. Friday to Sunday, 8am–6pm.

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