South Africa/NC: Kimberley – Biltong Fabriek
No exploration of Soith Africa would be solid without trying (and overeating) in biltong and droewors, both as traditional and authentic to South Africa as it can only be possible! Biltong is a cured, air-dried meat, typically made from beef or game (like kudu or ostrich). Droewors (Afrikaans for “dried sausage”) is a dried version of boerewors, a traditional South African sausage made from minced beef (or game meat). Both biltong and droewors are seriously cured and loaded with spices, mostly coriander and cloves, creating a very unique, unlike any other dry meats taste. The history of biltong and droewors is sates back to the early days of the Dutch settlers in the 17th century, who brought meat preservation techniques from Europe. During the Great Trek (the migration of Boer settlers into the interior of South Africa during the 1830s and 1840s), biltong became an essential food source, ideal for long journeys and required no refrigeration. We visited and got an awesome full tour of a Biltong Fabriek (Afrikaans for “biltong factory”), a locally famous biltong shop. We got to see meat preparation, spicing, drying, and so on. And of course we tried a lot of biltong and droewors!
