Biltong

Strips of raw meat, usually beef silverside or topside, or game such as kudu, springbok or gemsbok, are cut along the grain, dipped in vinegar, rubbed with salt and spices and hung to dry for several days. Coriander is the most recognisable of the spices. South Africans eat biltong as a snack, sliced or in sticks, and commercial producers also make it from ostrich.

A review in the South African Journal of Animal Science notes that people in southern Africa are said to have salted and dried meat before European settlers arrived, and that the settlers added vinegar and spices. The Voortrekkers dried meat for up to two weeks and wrapped it in cloth for their treks inland. The word comes from the Dutch bil, rump, and tong, tongue, after the strips of meat.

Research at Stellenbosch University found that vinegar does not make the meat dry faster, though it does make it keep for longer.