Over 100 members of SINZASA gathered at The Groynes on a warm Spring afternoon to braai and attend the World's First Biltong Competition.  

In the South Island of New Zealand Competition - A World First?“Biltong is a traditional way of preserving meat and is being accepted as part of the range of ethnic foods readily available in New Zealand,” says organiser Rosanne Hawarden. “There is enough choice now for the discerning gourmet to be selective as to the brand purchased and the competition for market share is a healthy sign of an ethnic food stuff moving into main stream culture.”

Speaking from Cape Town, veteran South African food editor and journalist, Brenda Neall said there were no industry standards to judge biltong. “Quality varies hugely. It is taken for granted here in South Africa, so the New Zealand competition is a world first.” 

There were three contestants, all commercially making biltong:

Pete's Biltong from Nelson 
Safari Meats from Christchurch 
Canterbury Biltong from  Christchurch

The four judges were:

Richard Emerson of Dunedin Based Brewery,  Emerson ' s Brewery 
Michael Campbell - General Manager Waipara Valley Wine Farmers 
Nona Verwoerd - Columnist and food journalist for the SINZASA magazine and passionate traditional food lover
Edwin Hattingh - Hunter, biltong maker and food lover
Plus Colin Cross, the Tallyman. 

The Winner 

Congratulations to Pete de Agrella, who won both categories - Original Trimmed and Original Fatty as well as Highest Points with Original Fatty.  The two Canterbury biltong makers came joint second.


Competition Procedures
 
The four judges did a blind tasting with all biltong in the same cream plates each distinguished by a label with a letter.   The judges rated each plate separately on a different sheet of paper and did not see ratings by other judges.  The biltong was rated on:

Colour and Appearance Texture

Flavour
Salt Profile
Spice Profile
Aroma
Overall Impression

The  results were tabulated and tallied by an independent scrutineer. 

The judges were instructed to ignore the diameter of the cut pieces as "chunkiness" varied.  In future competitions, this should be specified.   The judges had a preliminary session where they tasted a commercial North Island Jerky and an Auckland biltong and agreed on common descriptions and calibrated taste. 

Judges Comments

The judges passed on the following comments:

1.  Colour - It was noted that the biltong was not the traditional red colour as  Saltpetre or Potassium Nitrate, a traditional food preservative   used in Biltong, is not permitted in New Zealand.  In addition the high humidity in New Zealand also effects the colour of biltong.

2.  Too much sugar. The judges found in general the biltong was over sweetened.  A small amount of brown sugar to add flexibility is necessary but should not dominate. In the words of one judge,  "sweet fat is not pleasant".

3.  Coriander is traditionally used whole or ground  in biltong but is much more flavoursome if toasted.  The flavour of toasted coriander was one of the reasons that caused the judges to rate Pete's biltong so highly.
 

All are congratulated on a fine effort and for establishing the first biltong standards.

Rosanne  Hawarden