MANILA, Philippines – Within the coastal city of Alburquerque, Bohol, a centuries-old custom continues to simmer slowly however absolutely — each figuratively and actually. This cultural ritual is how the asin tibuok, or “unbroken salt,” is made.
As Bohol’s famend artisanal pleasure, it’s thought-about one of many rarest salts on the earth. With origins tracing again to pre-Hispanic instances, it’s a multi-generational craft that just a few households within the nation nonetheless know methods to do.
Not many individuals are aware about this course of, however fortunately, as a technique to shine a light-weight on this essential aspect of Filipino tradition and Boholano id, teams at the moment are permitting friends to witness the painstaking but persevering craft behind the coveted “salt of the earth.”
On the newly opened South Palms Spa and Resort in Panglao, vacationers can see the “dinosaur egg salt” take form from begin to end. The expertise is a part of the resort’s “M Second” program by MGallery — with “M” standing for significant and memorable.
What was as soon as used as a type of foreign money is now a landmark of tradition and artisanal heritage. “Individuals used it to commerce for meals; that’s how essential it was to our meals tradition,” our M Second information Krai mentioned.
“However sadly, due to modernization, we’re slowly beginning to neglect many components of our historical past and previous,” she mentioned. “That’s why we’re right here — to reconnect with substances which are starting to be forgotten, and to focus on them in probably the most fascinating and significant method.”
Man with a mission
Tan Inong Manufacturing is without doubt one of the final family-owned producers within the city devoted to preserving this craft. Led by Tatay Nestor, who realized the method from his grandfather on the age of seven, the household has been hand-making asin tibuok for many years, alongside his sister.
The artwork was virtually misplaced; however his brother, Father Chris, who relies in Australia, was key in serving to to revive the follow. The enterprise was susceptible to stopping due to many challenges — the rise of low-cost, industrial salt, typhoons, earthquakes, and even the pandemic. However Father Chris insisted on reviving it, not for cash, however out of respect for his or her ancestors.
It’s a tedious artwork that Tatay Nestor, who’s in his late 70s, leads; however the many steps concerned have already been imparted to his relations.
All of it begins with the gathering of coconut husks. These husks are soaked in seawater for a number of months in specifically dug pits, permitting them to soak up minerals from the ocean.
After soaking, the husks (referred to as daob) are burned day by day till they flip to ash. This slow-burning course of, finished over a number of days, produces a positive combination of ash referred to as gasang, the important thing filtering medium for seawater and what helps give asin tibuok its smoky, barely candy style.
On the website we visited, an unlimited lot of burnt coconuts lay drying below the solar, ready to be chopped. Chopping itself takes a full day of handbook labor, turning the husks into smaller items. As soon as chopped, the husks are carried indoors and stacked into small mountains, prepared for the following step.
Whereas that is occurring, Tatay Nestor’s different relations mould the clay pots by hand, small earthenware pots which are in a while heated in a furnace to carry the dome of salt.
Subsequent, seawater is poured by layers of coconut husk ash — that is the primary filtration system. The water passes by this ash repeatedly, in filters which are situated on high of the deck. Seawater is filtered by ash in three phases, collected, and used after three months of soaking, chopping, drying, and filtration.
This creates a concentrated brine, wealthy with absorbed minerals.
Each step undergoes high quality management — it will probably’t simply be common seawater. It needs to be the right salinity. They use a “tanchameter,” a small department from a particular mangrove tree. Thrown into the saltwater, if it floats, the salinity is ideal. If it sinks, it’s no good.
As soon as prepared, the concentrated brine is rigorously collected and poured into the massive clay pots, little by little. The pots are positioned over a hearth fueled by coconut husks and cooked slowly for as much as eight hours, typically longer, relying on the water’s salinity. It’s effervescent actively, till it solidifies into its distinct, egg-like type.
Because the liquid evaporates, salt crystals start to type, hardening right into a stable mass contained in the pot. Finally, the salt expands and cracks the pot, revealing a dome-shaped block typically likened to a “dinosaur egg.”
Krai additionally defined that Iloilo has its personal model of asin, which additionally makes use of coconut. However for Bohol, asin tibuok makes use of coconut husks. The issue is, if salinity retains getting decrease, asin tibuok will fail. This salt requires preferrred salinity to solidify correctly.
“The standard and time of asin tibuok will depend on the water’s salinity,” Krai defined. “If the salinity is sweet, they’ll end earlier. But when it rains, or when water ranges rise, the salinity drops, and cooking takes for much longer. Generally it lasts till late within the afternoon, round 4 or 5 pm.”
That’s why the method is so elaborate and tedious; it requires three days of cooking, eight hours every day. “You may’t simply gather seawater, boil it, and count on asin tibuok to type. If you happen to try this, you’ll solely find yourself with powdered salt, not the signature dome form,” she mentioned.
Communities additionally worry the consequences of worldwide warming and local weather change; when it rains, salinity drops. When ice melts, salinity drops. And if that continues, it impacts the salt-making course of.
It’s a fantastically complicated and time-consuming artwork that takes a minimal of three months to complete; usually extra, relying on components just like the seawater, the multi-stage burning, and the gradual cooking. It actually is a labor of affection; one manufacturing cycle produces solely 210 asin tibuok pots. Every asin tibuok sells for P800.
Not only a ‘development’ — it’s a sacred ritual
It isn’t simply labor for Tatay Nestor’s household; asin tibuok-making can also be religious. “For the primary three hours of cooking, no one is allowed close to the fireplace besides the grasp salt-maker and one trusted helper,” Krai mentioned. “No jewellery is allowed, nothing synthetic on the physique. Every thing have to be pure. This has been the follow for the reason that 1800s, they usually’ve stored it till right this moment.”
That is additionally why vacationers from South Palms should not allowed to “insert” themselves within the asin tibuok-making course of; interactive actions should not inspired (solely the clay pot molding may be tried out). Friends can observe and even converse with the salt makers up shut, however not provide a serving to hand. This additionally helps to guard the sacredness of the custom, and never put it susceptible to commercialization.
“We don’t need to disrupt the method,” Krai mentioned.
South Palms doesn’t earn from the excursions both; as an alternative, the initiative features as a type of CSR (company social accountability) — proceeds return to the group and assist hold the custom alive.
“That’s why we’re right here — as a result of we got the chance to reconnect with substances which are beginning to be forgotten, and to focus on them in probably the most fascinating method. We need to be progressive in how we current them as a result of we’d prefer to shine a light-weight on this little world.”
For now, asin tibuok’s future is each as very important and fragile because the salt itself. Except for local weather change dangers, the artwork isn’t being adopted by youthful generations as usually as earlier than.
Krai shared that when she asks Boholanos what they find out about asin tibuok, many can barely clarify it. The demand for the product stays minimal — and but, there are indicators of hope.
“Thankfully, asin tibuok is gaining recognition once more. It’s FDA-approved and even exported to the US,” Krai mentioned. It’s additionally rising right into a sizzling commodity in positive eating eating places in Manila, with each native and worldwide cooks using the salt in dishes, drinks, and desserts; and as a famed merchandise offered at artisanal meals gala’s across the nation.
Slowly, the meals and beverage business is beginning to carry the asin tibuok’s magic to shores past Bohol.
“That is one thing we ought to be happy with. That is Boholano tradition. That is custom,” Krai mentioned.
And as we shine a light-weight on these cultural practices, hardworking Filipinos like Tatay Nestor are in a position to move down a bit of their coronary heart to the generations to return — whereas we, in flip, get to take pleasure in the fantastic thing about what the Philippines has to supply on our plates. – Rappler.com
