Biltong for Days...........

Venison jerky

Biltong is what the South Africans call jerky.  It is NOT the same as the jerky that you buy in the United States.  In South Africa (at least in the providence of Limpopo) they do not trim the fat off of the meat.  They just cut it all up together and dry it out.  It looked SO disgusting to me that I could not even give it a try.  The Africans love it.  The fat on it is there favorite part because they say it is where all the flavor is.

Bottled Venison

My husband killed a mule deer this year in Wyoming.  He spent hours cutting up the meat himself and we have been freezing some of it, canning some of it (for the first time ever) and we are making jerky with some of it.  The top picture is of batch #2 with who knows how many batches left to go.  We dry the jerky in our smoker that only has four racks (much to my dismay as #1 a batch takes 6+hours to dry and #2 I smell like a smokehouse for the rest of the day).  If you have ever made your own jerky you will understand one of the many reasons as to why it costs so much to buy at the store.  It takes hours and hours to make.  Everyone who eats the jerky LOVES it and always begs for more.  I posted a picture of what the canned venison turned out to look like.  I am not a meat eater so I am not sure what to think of it.  My Dad on the other hand is thrilled beyond thrilled to try a bottle.  He is a good guinea pig HA!  There is quite a bit of meat in each quart and you can see just how lean the meat is by what little fat is at the top.  I am a terrible protein eater and with my diabetes it would be a really good thing if I could stomach eating venison.  I don't mind the jerky but this canned stuff........hmmm BLECK!  I guess I can't knock it until I have tried it eh!