Stellenbosch Hills Winery and Freddy Hirsch announced the winner of their 2012 Biltong Competition last Friday at 96 Winery Road. 

Policeman Frik Crafford from Worcester in the Cape’s biltong was crowned the best out of the 54 entries received and he walked away with the grand prize of R15 000 in cash as well as product to an equivalent value. The second place went to Schalk van Deventer from Somerset West, who walked away with R10 000 in cash and Jakes van der Merwe claimed the third spot and R5000 in cash.

Stellenbosch Hills winemaker PG Slabbert, Schalk van Deventer, Biltong King Frik Crafford, Jakes van der Merwe and Sue von Hirschberg from Freddy Hirsch.

The rules of this year’s competition were simple but the task at hand was quite a challenge. The judges, who included familiar faces such as MasterChef SA Finalist Ilse Fourie and chef Jenny Morris, evaluated colour, taste, texture, smell, and the appearance of the biltong, as well as its performance when paired with the Shiraz from Stellenbosch Hills.

What does it take to make the best biltong? The secret behind the winner Frik’s success was marinating’ his beef for 24 hours in a mixture of vinegar and Worcestershire Sauce. He also spiced up the Freddy Hirsch biltong spices he used with some coarse coriander and brown sugar. But he’s real secret to success is the fact that he talks to his biltong. This makes the meat taste better!

This year saw the 4th Stellenbosch Hills Biltong competition but it was the first year that Freddy Hirsch came on board as  a sponsor. The company was established in 1956 and today they are the biggest food ingredients manufacturer on the African continent.

If you would like to try your hand at biltong making you can purchase the Freddy Hirsch 1kg biltong spice mix packs online.