The word BILTONG is formed from the Dutch words "BIL" (meaning meat buttock or hind quarter) and 'TONG" meaning "strip". So it's just that - a strip of meat.
For centuries mankind has preserved meat. Ancient seafarers pickled meat in large wooden barrels and devoured this during the long months they were at sea.
But the Huguenot settlers who immigrated from Europe to the fertile valleys of the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, took the delicacy to a whole new level!
The basic spicing is a dramatic blend of vinegar, salt, sugar, coriander and other spices. These were in abundance in the Cape Colony at the time, as the French Huguenots produced wine and vinegar from their grape crops supporting seafarers from Europe who made the Cape of Good Hope (Cape Town) their halfway stop on the spice route to the Far East.
Now in the 21st Century, the Joubert Family of Stallings, NC has mastered the recipe and now commercially produces the most superior Biltong and Biltong Sticks (Droewors) outside of South Africa.
