Biltong USA - Original Droëwors

Biltong USA was among the earliest brands of American-made biltong, dating back to 1996. South African immigrants, Dawid Joubert and Salome Joubert founded the company in Stallings, NC based on the same family recipe that dated back into the 1600s. Over the years, their biltong products helped launched a new meat snack category in the States.

In January 2018, Biltong USA was acquired by a rival biltong brand, Stryve Foods. However, Biltong USA continues on under its own brand, and is still manufactured at its original USDA inspected facility in Stallings.

This Original Droëwors, according to the company, these sticks come from their large, fresh pieces of solid beef muscle, and is then ground coarse, seasoned, stuffed into lamb casing, and finally cured. Droëwors is a South African-style meat stick. These are the company's normal sized stick, they also make a thicker variety.

Ingredients

Beef, salt, flavorings, vinegar, raisin juice concentrate, lamb casing.

Review

The first flavors that I pick up is a light vinegar, with a touch of salt slowly coming in. The chewing brings on a light coriander. The natural meat flavors slowly start to come in and is mixed with a bit of fat.

For being marketed as Droëwors, this has the classic South African flavor, which itself is not that different than biltong. This has that coarse ground beef consistency, not the fine ground meal that American-style sticks have, and as a result chew more meaty. It has that classic Droëwors bite that starts with the light snap of the casing and then sinks in a bit when the teeth clamp down. It also has that fatty meat texture with a light amount of oil.

Otherwise, the primary taste profile is a lightly salted, vinegar and coriander seasoning over an air-dried fatty natural meat flavor. It's totally mild, not spicy.

These sticks are generally easy to chew though still retain a chewy character, mostly through the lamb casing. They have a clean, dry handling, despite the meat being fatty and lightly oily. There's a light bit of unchewable tissues noted, but otherwise still very much meaty and enjoyable.

Verdict

This Original Droëwors from Biltong USA delivers that classic South African-style meat stick flavor and chewing through a simple recipe of vinegar, coriander, and light salt. For the most part, it's traditional biltong, but using a coarse ground beef, lightly fatted and oily, and remaining dry to the touch thanks to the crisp lamb casing. We like the light crunch to the casing, and we like that classic, soft bite. This has an earthy, air-dried flavor while tasting fresh with just a light bit of salt. It's not any different flavor than traditional biltong, just presented in a totally different form factor.

Rating: Good (4/5)