Paleo Snacks: Braaitime Biltong Gourmet Cured Meats Product Review

Welcome to my review of Braaitime’s Biltong Dried Beef & Sausage. I chose Braatime because as a busy paleo practitioner, I am always looking for paleo snacks that my family and I can grab on the go. Additionally, when I started looking around at high protein snacks I was impressed by the list of Braaitime’s ingredients.

So how was it? Let’s jump right in!

We tried the following 4 Braaitime products:

Biltong Dried Beef
Biltong Seasoned Dried Beef Peri Peri
Droewors Dried Beef Sausage
Droewors Dried Beef Sausage Peri Peri

Biltong vs Jerky

If you like American beef jerky, get ready for Biltong. Biltong is cured beef, not cooked and dried. It is a process of curating that originated from the local butchers in South Africa. The process of making Biltong is different from jerky in many ways. First, since the meat is not cooked, but immediately cured, all the enzymes of the meat remain in the product. This means more natural stuff and fewer preservatives. In true Paleo nature, this is food in its natural form and what your stomach can actually digest with no problem.

Another difference between Biltong and jerky is that Biltong can include any cut of meat, whereas jerky is made with thin, lean strips of beef. This makes Biltong to be thicker and juicier.

The final checkmate that makes Biltong a super Paleo snack is that it is 100% unprocessed. This particular product is just that. Cured with apple vinegar, it complies with the Paleo vinegar list, with no sugar, maple syrup, or drying additives. As an unprocessed product even the fat content of it is much more easy for our natural digestive juices to process. This means that this fat will actually be put in your body for good use, and not to just float around until all preservatives are finally metabolized…or not!

A hint of sweet is good enough to get the taste of the Biltong, but the texture, moisture and portion sizes totally help satisfy even the biggest food craving out there.

By the way, this is an All American made product that follows the South American tradition, so buying means supporting our American market, especially in this particular market, which would be awesome if it soared high here.

Biltong Seasoned Cured Beef Peri Peri

A version of this product comes in Peri Peri flavor. Peri Peri, or Piri Piri is a spice originally from Portugal. It is from the chili pepper family, which makes it spicy with a degree of heat, comparable to a mild siracha. The actual Peri Peri sauce is used either for seasoning or marinating. A sauce of the same name is made with Peri Peri and mixed with citrus peel, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and more crushed chilies. This bitter sweet and hot flavor is also similar to chamoy, which is found in many Mexican dishes. Peri Peri sauce, however, is very popular in the African coast, which comes to no surprise that it is a preferred seasoning for the very South African Biltong jerky. The flavor is delicious and really adds to the already tender and moist meat. You will not need to eat a steak every again after you get a couple of pieces of this super delicious thing.

Droewors Cured Beef Sausage by Braaitime

Braaitime is creating these amazing dried beef sausages. Just think Biltong, but even softer and meatier as it is done in the traditional ground beef and natural casing fashion.

In case you did not know, “BRAAI” comes from “braavleis,” which is an Afrikaan term that means “roasted meat.” Now, Braai itself would be the South African term for “barbecue”. I am not talking about the sauce-filled Southern American version of BBQ, but the actual roasting of meat.

Language lesson over, these awesome snacks are filling, juicy, and very delicious. They are individually cased the same way American jerky also is starting to become packaged, in the shape of long cigars. Again, the main difference is the bite. It is softer, more tender, and the meat is definitely moister. The hint of apple vinegar makes it all the more appealing. The size is great, and they are easy to carry around in a lunchbox without staining your napkin with excess fat and “sweat” that comes out of the preservatives. The Droewors are Paleo friendly, diabetic-friendly, and each 8 oz. serving adds to the daily macronutrients that all Paleo practitioners want to reach.

Peri Peri flavor

The Droewors sausage also come in the famously-South African Peri Peri sauce! This means that the soft and delicious meaty snack will also pack with it a punch of bitter-sweetness and spice that won’t burn your mouth. However, prepare your taste buds for an explosion of flavor. You can taste the citrus, first and foremost. Then, as you continue to chew, the other strong flavors come out quite strongly, especially the vinegar, combined with the chili peppers. Since Peri Peri is both a seasoning and a marinade, the sausages have had their share of exposure to the spices, making them a delicious snack to have.

Conclusion

All in all I would highly recommend that you try the meats from Braaitime as a paleo snack. The ingredients are awesome and the flavor is even better. Each of the 4 products that we tried was amazing. The meat was tender, flavorful and great for a grab & go snack. You can’t go wrong with these meats. So if you want to add to your rotation of snacks that fit your paleo lifestyle

To learn more, check out Braaitime products on Amazon.