People have been curing meat for thousands of years, but in South Africa during the early days of settlement, curing meat took on a whole new flavor profile. The basic spicing of Biltong 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 to support
seafarers from Europe, who made the Cape of Good Hope (modern-day Cape Town) their halfway stop on the spice route to the Far East. The Seafarers would have arrived in Cape Town with beef that was almost inedible – the only meat they had left was the thickest part of the animal, the “biltong”, or hindquarter strip – which had been in salt barrels for months. To rehydrate the beef, the settlers had to soak the beef in vinegar, and then cured it in the African sun after coating it is coriander and pepper. The result: A delicious spicy meat that can be stored for months, and is always tender. Lion’s Head Foods is proud to distribute grass-fed hormone-free USDA certified beef with curing practices that stay true to the original methods. This delicious cured meat tastes just as good as the original safari snack found in the Cape. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do! Lion’s Head Foods takes its name from the mountain by the same name in Cape Town - which overlooked the settlers who developed the fabulous flavor profiles that you will find in Biltong!
