Biltong is the perfect travel companion for anyone who loves to snack. There are different types, different flavors, and they can be stored well enough to sit with it for hours without changing its texture or taste. What makes this tasty snack even better is when you know how to make homemade biltong. Then, you can have an endless supply of biltong at your disposal. 

Not only is homemade biltong just a perfect snack, but it’s also perfect as an inflight snack. A long flight can be both uncomfortable and boring, and if you are flying internationally, it can also bring on feelings of hunger when you least want it to.

There are always things to eat, and the inflight movies provide you with visual entertainment, but you will want to nibble on something, and it’s usually something salty that does the trick. Biltong can satisfy that craving and is healthier than other options.

Homemade Biltong

Making Your Batch of Biltong

To make homemade biltong, you can use just about any kind of meat. Beef is the most popular meat to use because it comes in larger pieces and is a lot more affordable than game or poultry. Unlike beef jerky, you do not have to have any specific sauces or spices.

Salt, vinegar, coriander, and maybe a bit of meat spice are all you need to be able to make flavourful biltong in the comfort of your own home. The one thing that you will need is a cure box which can be bought online or made at home.

The curing box is something that you cannot compromise because unless you have a dark, cool room to cure your biltong, you might end up with a bad batch. Light is essential to prevent mold and rot, so it’s best to keep the curing process as close to the requirements as possible.

Once you have selected your meat, cut it to the size of the pieces you want and marinade it with your spice and vinegar mixture; you can hang it in the box and cure it for a period of 3 to 7 days. This curing time is dependant on how dry you want the biltong to be, and you can judge by the result how much spice you would like to add in the future.

The trick is not to add too much salt or cut it too thinly, or it will become over dehydrated, and you will lose some of the tenderness of the meat. If you prefer it to be chewier, then keep the slices thin. Once your homemade biltong is ready to take out of the box, you can store it in a brown paper bag or a ziplock bag and carry it in your hand luggage for safekeeping.

Healthier Flight Snacks

Biltong makes a companion for any traveling method. It is a simple snack that is both healthy and filling, and you will never have to worry about it going bad once you have opened the packaging. Biltong was initially made for extended travel, and because there is no sauce or preservatives, it is excellent for flights.

Many ailments can come along with a long flight, like deep vein thrombosis, where the blood can clot in your vein because of the altitude. The body’s natural biological rhythm known as Zeitgeber can become disturbed during a night to day flight, which affects the body differently for each person. The nutrients in biltong help maintain bodily function by acting as a source of energy to the body.

Biltong is high in protein and gives your muscles energy to burn sugars and fats so your body can function correctly. It helps with growing new cells and muscle repair. Just 25gs of biltong a day makes up for half of your body’s daily protein requirement, and with less than 3% fat per 25gs, you are getting the protein at its purest without any carbohydrates.

Zinc helps boost your immune system, helping your body repair itself from the inside out. It helps produce new DNA and has antioxidants that help eliminate the unwanted toxins in your body.

Biltong is low fat and low carb and excellent for keto or banting followers. Protein expands in the tummy during digestion, and this helps to keep you fuller for longer, and unlike carbohydrates, you won’t have that sugar dip halfway through that will make you crave sugar.

Your body’s heat regulators also remain in full function when you’re eating biltong at such a high altitude because it is getting the nutrients without preservatives that can harm and slow down the body’s ability to absorb all the good stuff.

If you are not a very big eater and prefer your snacks to the candy they serve on flights, you cannot go wrong with biltong. There’s a variety to choose from, and you can take them all because they are the perfect travel companion.

Thanks to the way it is prepared, all biltong will remain fresh for your entire flight. Whether you prefer to buy your biltong already made or to make homemade biltong, and whether you choose fish, game, poultry, or meat, you cannot go wrong with this tasty snack.