After best friends Brett Johnston and Ricky Hirsch traveled to South Africa to race 175 miles in an Ironman and Ultra Marathon, a South African introduced them to biltong, which is centuries old and ensures that their beef retains its full flavor, tenderness, and nutritional integrity. They got hooked and began their mission of bringing a South African tradition of enjoying beef in its unaltered form back to their family, friends, and country. Their biltong, which differs from jerky by being air-dried rather than cooked, offers a tender, flavorful alternative that is keto, paleo, and Whole30-friendly.
Kalahari Biltong is made simply from only 6-8 all natural ingredients. After sourcing the best cuts of top-round beef, they begin by trimming the fat off each piece. Then, dry rub each piece to marinate it in our time-tested blend of spices and hang it to dry. After the drying process, each piece is thinly sliced against the grain, creating tender pieces of biltong. Kalahari Biltong has various flavors, including Original, Peri Peri, and Rosemary Truffle. This Kalahari Biltong brand name is distributed by Kalahari Snacks LLC, which is based out of Frisco, Texas.
The first review on Kalahari Biltong will focus on a 2 ounce/56 gram bag of their Original flavored beef biltong. This flavor is described as using a time-tested blend of vinegar, salt, black pepper, coriander, and rosemary. The bag was purchased at a Whole Foods Market in South Lake Tahoe, California.
Ingredient Review
Ingredients: Beef, Vinegar, contains 2% or less of: Salt, Black Pepper, White Pepper, Garlic Powder, Coriander, Clove, Nutmeg, and Extracts of Rosemary and Green Tea.
Grass-fed beef is used here, just the way nature intended. These cattle are raised ethically, meaning they are not fed growth hormones or additional antibiotics. There is also some free range access for the cattle to roam about. As a result, the ingredient rating starts at Excellent (10/10).
Keeping up with South African traditions of making biltong, healthy vinegar is the only liquid used in the marinade.
Some healthy ingredients are added, such as black pepper, white pepper, garlic powder, coriander, clove, nutmeg, rosemary extract, and green tea.
The sugar level is perfect at 0 grams of sugar per 28 grams of biltong. The salt level is very high at 780mg of salt per 28 grams of biltong to lose a rating. Our preference is 350mg of salt or less per 28 grams of biltong for an original flavor.
This biltong does qualify to have no sodium nitrite. Instead, salt is the main preservative used, and to a lesser extent vinegar. Admirably, this biltong has no MSG added.
Very Good (9/10) – Ingredient Rating
Taste Review
KALAHARI BILTONG – ORIGINAL BILTONG
Written by guest biltong reviewer Paul Rekker
When I open the bag I smell what I believe to be coriander. Nothing much else. The biltong is just like most other biltong. It is sliced thin, leaving a slight oily residue on your fingers.
When I bite into the biltong it tastes pretty much exactly like most other biltong. It is delicious, and it is addictive. I taste salt, very little sweet, pepper, garlic, coriander, and that’s pretty much it.
It is very tasty, very delectable, and it tastes like MORE. A very well deserved 10/10, typical ridiculously tasty biltong. Gentlemen?
Here is what Mark had to say about this original beef biltong flavor from Kalahari Biltong: “Thanks Paul for the enthusiastic taste review. While I agree with your review, I would not term this biltong as being ridiculously tasting. This biltong has that classic, authentic taste of biltong, but it has a somewhat subtle taste. That is fair enough being an original flavor, where the natural taste of beef should be the main star of the show.”
“As Paul mentioned, these biltong strips are sliced thin. With biltong being air-dried instead of jerky using a dehydrator or smoker, the texture does not resemble some other biltong brands being shiny and ultra smooth. That leads me to believe that this biltong may have dried at a little higher than room temperature to speed up production but I could be wrong. Irrespective, this biltong was tasty and a treat to eat being a die hard biltong fan. With Paul at a 10 and myself at a 9, an Excellent (10/10) taste rating will be awarded.”
This 2 ounce/56 gram bag was purchased for $9.29, which works out to $4.65 an ounce. That rates as an expensive price.
Excellent (10/10) – Taste Rating
Bag Review
This resealable plastic bag has everything imprinted directly on the bag, both front and back. No labels are affixed to this bag. The Kalahari Biltong logo resembles a pyramid. On the front, each of the simple ingredients is drawn.
Some slogans on this bag could be “Taste The Adventure” and “Hello Biltong, Goodbye Jerky”. Some facts printed on this bag are “32g Protein”, “0g Sugar”, “Air Dried, Thinly Sliced Beef”, “No Antibiotics Ever”, “No Added Hormones”, “No Animal By-Products”, “Made in the USA”, “Simple Ingredients”, “160 Calories”, “32g Protein”, “0g Carbs”, “0g Sugar”, “Air Dried”, “Paleo Friendly”, “Soy Free”, and “Gluten Free”.
The only missing bag category is a transparent window where you can view the biltong. An excellent blurb on the back explains this biltong and Kalahari Biltong. Facebook and Instagram handles are provided.
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