Chemical, Textural and Sensorial Attributes of Biltong Produced through Different Manufacturing Processes

Six different types of biltong samples were manufactured from beef which was slowly frozen, quickly frozen or unfrozen. After marinating the samples according to the formulation used, meats were dried at two different temperatures (28±1oC or 42±1oC) until they lost half of their weights. Chemical, instrumental textural and sensorial analyses were done for determination of the most preferred sample and to compare the attributes of the samples with each other. It was found that, aw values of the samples were among 0.81 and 0.83, whereas water contents were changing among the values 39.64% and 45.37%. There were no significant differences determined among the protein contents of the biltong samples (p>0.05). Fat, ash and salt contents of the samples were among the values 1.32% and 2.07%, 5.30% and 6.06%, 2.68% and 3.30% respectively. Hardness of the samples were found between 34.81 N and 44.13 N and there was no significant difference observed among the hardness values of the biltong samples (p>0.05). As results of the analyses, it can be concluded that the highest flavor, color, tenderness and overall acceptability scores were obtained for the sample QF-LT which was made from quickly frozen beef and was dried at low temperature (28±1oC) (p<0.05).