Bokkoms (or bokkems) is whole, salted and dried mullet (more specifically the Southern mullet, Chelon richardsonii, a type of fish commonly known in the Western Cape of South Africa as "harders"),[1][2] and is a well-known delicacy from the West Coast region of South Africa.

As early as 1658, only six years after the first permanent settlement of Europeans at the Cape of Good Hope, four free burghers were given permission to settle in Saldanha Bay on the West Coast of Southern Africa.

[4][5][citation needed] The ingredients for bokkoms consist of small (juvenile) mullet (fish), coarse salt and fresh water.

The original West Coast way of preparing bokkoms starts with catching the small (juvenile) mullets (called "harders" in Afrikaans).

A large square tank built out of bricks or stone is filled with a strong pickle made of around 50 kg of coarse salt and fresh water, to which the fish is added.

Although it has a significant market in the Western Cape (where it is very popular and can be found in hotels, bars, bottle stores (in UK: off-licence), fish shops and beach kiosks on the beaches and holiday resorts), it has not been able to become a common product in the larger part of Southern African butcheries, fisheries and grocery stores like biltong has.

[7] Around 95% of South Africa's bokkoms are produced in Velddrif, in a series of small individual factories located along the Berg river.

In the past, large schools of mullet was caught in the river and the jetties were used as a place to tie the fishermen's "bakkies" (small boats) to unload their catch.

It is best enjoyed with white wine, or with bread, apricot jam and black coffee, but can also be used in soups and spaghetti's, tapenades, ragout or just as a bite on its own.

The word bokkoms has been taken up in the Afrikaans language in at least three proverbs: It has also been used as the name for a specific family of plants with sharp seedpods found in South Africa.

Bloaters (whole fish), kippers (split) and buckling (head and guts removed) are all lightly salted and smoked for a short period of time.