If you've ever spent time in Southern Africa (and you're not a vegetarian) you've probably tried the most delicious snack in the world, biltong. Biltong is similar to beef jerky in that it's all meat -- chewy, salty, raw meat. The difference is that biltong is dried, not smoked. Biltong is usually made from either beef or "game". Game biltong is made from various bucks like impala, kudu and wildebeest.

The basic biltong recipe includes salt, vinegar, coriander and pepper. You then let it dry in the sun or use a fan. The drying is the tricky bit, if it goes too slow your delicious piece of meat will turn green and that's never good. So special 'biltong boxes' are built to let just enough heat and air in to produce the perfect biltong.

Where Can You Get Biltong?

• In the US: The best biltong I've found in the US is from the Biltong Box. I prefer mine 'wet' but they offer 'dry' as well.

• In the UK: You can get biltong fairly easily in the UK since there are lots of Southern Africans living there. Biltong2u Ltd. offers both beef and a wide variety of game biltong and Susman' s Best Beef Biltong also has a good choice of biltong types and flavors.

Of course it's cheaper to make your own and there are plenty of sites that have recipes and ideas for the meat lovers out there. The most comprehensive biltong web site I found is a South African site called Biltongmakers.com (yes, biltong deserves entire web sites dedicated to it).

Photo courtesty of Biltong2u Ltd.