Were you able to turn the heat off in the dehydrator? If not you did not make biltong. I use my Cabella Deluxe 10 tray with the top tray turned upside down and the meat hanging from it on bent paper clips. Nice and easy no mess no fuss way to make it. First 24 I run ambient and then just set it to be 90ish for the next 3 days. Makes good biltong.
“Were you able to turn the heat off in the dehydrator?“
We have an Excalibur that I set to about 100 degrees. I hung the meat from one of the racks with paper clips as you did. I ran it for 36 hours or so IIRC. It was pretty tasty. Lots of cracked coriander and black pepper. I used a touch of pink salt just to be on the safe side. Once again, cheating a bit, but it was very humid here and I was afraid I’d lose 4 pounds of good meat to mold.
Mrs. L and I are into food preservation as a hobby. So the Excalibur gets a workout. We make quite a bit of jerky and it does a fine job on yogurt as well. I just turned 4 pounds of blueberries we picked yesterday into fruit butter. It’s like jam but without the pectin to set it up. If you’ve never had it...well...eating that is one of the the most enjoyable experiences you can have while standing up with your clothes on.
All those wonderful berries cooked down to 4 half pint jars. Some sugar, molasses, cinnamon, nutmeg, fresh local honey, and some lemon juice. Purée it all up and cook it in a crock pot on low for 8 hours or so until reduced by about half.
13 minutes in a water bath canner and it’s shelf stable for a year or so. I’m going to hide a jar and save it for a really nasty cold day in January. It’ll be like opening a jar of summer sunshine that carries God’s love. From the field to the jar in one day. Can’t get fresher than that my friend.
This morning it’s going on some fresh buttermilk biscuits which I need to get busy making.
Enjoy your day.
L