Food Business News reports that “a growing number of snack makers in the United States are adding biltong to their product lines or focusing exclusively on biltong production.”
We knew it wasn’t going to be long before the world embraced our favourite meaty tidbit. Could the hype be thanks to Stryve Biltong which took over two American biltong companies that were started by South African expat families? Whatever the reason, we’re happy that it’s getting time to shine. Even Phil Lempert, the ‘supermarket guru’ acknowledged biltong (and South Africa!) on Twitter the other day. How cool?
Evidently, one of the things that Americans like about biltong is its high protein content – which is about 30g of protein per 100g, making it a go-to option for athletes, bodybuilders, Keto devotees and even just the general Joe wanting to get more protein in his or her diet.
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A Google search will leave you with a rather long list of American biltong producers…but are they any good? I had the chance to taste some in December while I was visiting San Diego and it was spot on. It was called California Biltong, made in the seaside town of Solana Beach. Apparently it’s very popular among the rugby players (a growing sport in the US).
I’m all for biltong being the new ‘it’ food abroad. My only hope is that they don’t adulterate it with something like a ‘chocolate chip cookie dough’ flavour.
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