If you've ever stood in a snack aisle wondering whether biltong is just fancy jerky, you're not alone. They're both dried meat. They both live in pouches. The similarities end there.

We make biltong for a living, so we'll admit our bias upfront. But the differences below are facts, not opinions — and by the end you'll understand why a 400-year-old South African method produces something so unlike the jerky you grew up with.

The short answer

Jerky is thin-sliced meat that's marinated — usually with sugar, soy, or smoke flavoring — and then cooked at low heat for several hours.

Biltong is whole muscle meat, cured in vinegar, salt, and spices, then hung to air-dry for days. It's never cooked. After drying, it's sliced. (New to the category entirely? Start with our full primer: What is Biltong?)

Where each one comes from

Jerky's roots trace to the Americas, where Indigenous peoples dried meat over fire and sun — the word comes from the Quechua ch'arki. Biltong was born in 17th-century South Africa, where Dutch settlers needed meat that could survive weeks crossing hot, dry country by ox wagon. Their answer: vinegar cure, coriander, salt, and the dry winter air. The method worked so well it hasn't meaningfully changed in 400 years.

We make ours the same way — seven days of patient air-drying, no industrial heat, no shortcuts. (Here's our story.)

How they're made

Jerky: lean meat is sliced thin, soaked in a marinade (typically including sugar, soy sauce, or Worcestershire), then cooked or smoked at around 160°F until dry. Cooking is fast and consistent — which is why jerky scales easily to factory production.

Biltong: whole cuts are cured in salt and vinegar, coated in toasted coriander and cracked black pepper, then hung in moving air for days — ours for a full seven. No heat touches it. The vinegar and salt do the preserving; time does the flavor. Then, and only then, it's sliced.

The no-heat method matters for more than tradition: air-drying preserves heat-sensitive B vitamins and keeps the protein's bioavailability high.

The ingredient label tells the story

Pick up a typical jerky pouch and read the back: sugar or corn syrup (often 5–10g per serving), soy sauce, smoke flavoring, and frequently sodium nitrite to hold the color.

Now read ours: grass-fed beef, Baja Gold sea salt, Bragg's organic apple cider vinegar, organic coriander, organic black pepper, organic tomato powder. That's the entire list. Zero sugar — not low, zero. No preservatives, no nitrates, no "natural flavors."

Jerky needs sugar to mask the harshness of fast cooking. Biltong never needed masking: seven days of slow drying builds umami the honest way.

Texture and taste

Jerky is chewy — sometimes leathery — because cooking tightens the muscle fibers and the surface dries hard. Biltong is tender, almost steak-like, because the whole muscle dries slowly from the inside out and is sliced across the grain afterward. South Africans argue about how moist the center should be the way Texans argue about brisket.

Flavor-wise, jerky leads sweet and smoky. Biltong leads savory: deep beef, vinegar tang, the citrusy warmth of coriander. If jerky is candy-adjacent, biltong is charcuterie.

Nutrition, side by side

	Brave Biltong	Typical jerky
Sugar	0g	5–10g per serving
Protein	32g per 2oz serving	~18–22g per 2oz
Cooking	Never cooked — air-dried 7 days	Cooked/smoked
Preservatives	None	Often sodium nitrite
Sweeteners/soy	None	Common
Calories	~90 per oz	~80–120 per oz
Keto / paleo / Whole30	Yes	Usually not (sugar)

Because air-drying removes more water than cooking does, biltong concentrates more protein per ounce. And with no sugar, there's no insulin spike and no crash — just slow, steady fuel. That's why you'll find biltong in cyclists' jersey pockets and climbers' summit packs.

So which one should you buy?

If you want sweet, smoky, and cheap at a gas station — jerky exists everywhere, and some craft jerky makers do it well.

But if you care about ingredients you can count on one hand, protein without sugar, and meat that's tender instead of leathery, biltong isn't a jerky alternative. It's the upgrade. Once people switch, they don't tend to switch back — our reviews say it better than we can.

Try it for yourself: start with the Brave Purist 2oz for traditional flavor, the Brave Bold if you like campfire chipotle heat, or go full South African with The Purist Slab and slice it yourself.

Questions? We answer everything from storage to spice on our FAQ page.