buy-o

Photo credit to Jose Benigno Salvador

buy-o - /búy-o/ Sambali [Botolan, Zambales] condiment\seasoning) [n.] Botolan salt in woven nipa palm pouch.

Other local name:

• asin sa buy-o in Tagalog

Buy-o is originally the Sambali name for that cylindrical pouch that is made of woven nipa palm. This container is used to pack the raw sea salt produced in Botolan, Zambales. Thus, in Tagalog, the salt is called asin sa buy-o (salt in buy-o). The nipa palm (leaves) are cut off from the frond and the blades of the palm are sewn together in a pattern of overlapping each other side by side until they become a wide sheet. The sheet of sewn palms is rolled to shape and look like a cylindrical fat bottle. The circular frame or ring at the base is made of a palm frond. The strips used in stitching the palms could be thin strips of bamboo, rattan bark, or the bark of nipa frond. 

The tip of the container is tapered to look like the mouth of PET bottles, folded and secured tightly with a strip. When the salt is needed, the topmost part of the pouch is cut off or loosened so as to open the container and allow access to the salt inside. 

The floor at the base is made of latticed palm midribs or straw lined with a sheet of food-grade sack that allows the salt to breathe inside. 

A handle is attached on the side that is made of a bent bamboo stick or hemp rope that loops upward. 

The salt is produced by collecting sands that have been soaked for so long in the sea or seashore of Botolan. Sands on the seashore of Botolan that are always soaked in seawater on high tide are heavily saturated with salt deposits. The sands are collected when the sea is ebbing down to its lowest level. It is best to scoop sands at this moment as it would be a lot easier when they are not underwater. The sands can also be made saturated with salt by getting water from the Botolan sea and pouring it on a bed or mound of collected sand on the dry shore and then allowing the sand to dry under the sun. The pouring of seawater and sun drying is done over and over again the whole day at regular intervals until the sand is heavily saturated with salt. In between pouring and sun drying, the sand is turned over with a rake to evenly distribute the saturation of salt.

The collected sands are hauled into a large wooden funnel-shaped strainer and poured with the final round of seawater. The saline water that comes out down through the strainer is collected and boiled continuously in a boiler (usually a kawa, a big wide round cast-iron pan) until white crystals of salt are produced at the bottom of the boiler. When the boiler is about to get dry, more water from the strainer is added to the boiler so as to keep producing salt. The white crystals of sea salt produced are collected using a woven bamboo splits scooping basket that allows the salt to drip and dry. When dry, the salt is then packed in buy-o for keeping.

The buy-o salt is densely packed inside the palm pouch that after some time, it would harden and has to be scraped off when needed in cooking or for other uses. 

Asin sa buy-o is the Tagalog name for this Botolan artisanal salt, and it means "salt in nipa palm pouch."

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• Youtube video: The Finest Sea Salt in the Philippines is in Danger (Asin sa Buy-o) Filipino fleur de sel

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sadya

sadya - /sad-yâ/ Caviteño [Tanza, Cavite] bread; dw Tag. sadya [special]) [n.] specially baked bread roll of Tanza, Cavite.

Loaves of sadya at PHP65.00 a piece (2017).

 

A big-size version of Philippine monay bread made special by the Kaibigan Bakery of Brgy. Biwas, Tanza, Cavite. 

You have to come early because this bread is fast selling in the morning. By past noon, all are gone - sold out.

Sadya is a Tagalog word, which means intent or purpose. For this bread, sadya is a descriptive name to mean "specially made" with a purpose or intent to satisfy the customer (or anybody else who will take this bread). It is called sadya because the baker has to make this bread a pinasasadya or what we fondly called now as "special." It is done by using specific ingredients and by following specific baking procedures. 

Suggested serving is to split the loaves into halves then slice the half into slabs.

Sadya of Tanza is made special by Kaibigan Bakery with special ingredients and flavors added to the dough. It has plenty of itlog na pula (salted eggs) that are fresh and uncooked (not boiled) and premium butter. Kaibigan Bakery now preferably used Magnolia Gold Pure & Creamy Butter. In the past, an unrecalled brand of premium butter was used.

Suggested serving is to slice the halves into slabs, to make it easy to spread with jam, peanut butter, mayonnaise, or pesto. You may also sandwich or top the sliced bread with fried egg, bacon, greens, or whatever you like.

Sadya is one of the old-time Caviteño favorites that you can buy best from Kaibigan Bakery, a Caviteño panaderia established in 1920.

A loaf is sold at PHP65.00 a piece in the bakery as of 2017. Priced more if you buy it from the resellers in Tanza public market. But you have to come early because this bread is fast selling in the morning. Past noon, all are gone - sold out. Over the years, the Kaibigan Bakery had not opened any branches. It would just distribute its freshly baked bread to a number of resellers in the public market of Tanza, Cavite.

My first visit at Kaibigan Bakery on its original spot along Hugo C. Arce Street in Brgy. Biwas, Tanza, Cavite.

My special thanks to a good friend, Ige Ramos for bringing this up first in his Facebook posts. It was like a whiff and I followed the smoke that eventually led me to where the Kaibigan Bakery when I happened to be in the coastal side of Cavite province. He was right of describing it as ang tinapay na amoy usok (smoky). It is the compliment of smoky flavor from firewood-fueled pugon, a traditional oven of bricks laid on thick bed insulation of sea salt.

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_______________________

All photos by Edgie Polistico are copyrighted. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

For more about Filipino food, see  this Philippine Food, Cooking, and Dining Dictionary. It is OPEN and FREE.

Continue to follow my blogs. You can also follow and learn more by joining us in our Facebook group account of Philippine Food Illustrated (Private) and Philippine Food Illustrated (Public)  It is my pleasure to rediscover the known and least known things or the unheard ones and put them here for everyone to find, learn, and treasure. 

Thank you for all the encouragement and enthusiasm. I need also moral support, prayers, and anything else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. 

If you are pleased and happy with this blog, please share the PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED. It is energizing that my blog becomes one of the reasons why someone is happy and smiling. 

Edgie Polistico  

saklob

saklob - /sak-lób/ Caviteño [Tanza, Cavite] bread; dw Tag. saklob [face-to-face]) [n.] A pair of two sweet bread, paired face-to-face.

buddy-buddy, body-body, or double body in Cebuano, Boholano, and Ilonggo

A pair of sweet bread, shaped like a thick tongue, and rolled in desiccated shreds of coconut meat. 

Saklob is an old Tagalog word for "face-to-face."

Saklob bread in four colors, a product of  Kaibigan Bakery. To get your freshly baked saklob, you may visit the  bakery at Hugo C. Arce Street of Brgy. Biwas in Tanza, Cavite.

Saklob bread is dense in every bite but somewhat soft and a bit cakey. 

It is quite sweet, and with a texture  somewhat like a dense cake.

A perfect terno (pair) for hot coffee. Also a good partner for a cold softdrink (cola or soda).

The loaves would spoil in two days because of the shredded coconut meat used as a coating of the bread.

In Visayas, there is a similar pastry they called buddy-buddy or double body with pieces shaped into a rounded or oblong flatbread. Noticeably, the Visayan version is crisp like a cookie.

These packs (above) and mounds (below) of freshly baked saklobs  are readied by Kaibigan Bakery for distribution to resellers in Pamilihang Bayan Ng Tanza, where a pack  of 6 saklobs is sold at PHP5.00 as of 2017.

All photos by Edgie Polistico are copyrighted. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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Continue to follow my blogs. You may also follow and learn more by joining us in our Facebook group. Have more bits and pieces about our kind of food, ingredients, and ways of cooking, dining, and knowing food culture across the 7,641 islands of the Philippines.

Thank you for all the encouragement.  They fueled my enthusiasm. Continue to give your moral support, prayers, and whatever else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons.

Share PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED with others.

Edgie Polistico  

samak

samak – /sa-mak/ Ilocano tree /bark /leaf /fermentation agent) [n.] parasol leaf tree (sc.name: Macaranga tanarius, Linn.) \elephant’s ear

binunga in Tagalog and Ilonggo

minunga in Bicolano

A small tree with medicinal bark, leaves, and fruits is used in fermenting and coloring basi (sugarcane wine), sukang Iloko (Ilocano sugarcane vinegar), and tuba (palm wine) in some places of Luzon.

How to tell binunga leaves from binungang-malapad. 

Binunga leaf  (Macaranga tanarius) is very much like that of Macaranga grandifolia (of botanists Fr. Francisco Manuel Blanco and Elmer Drew Merrill) commonly known as binungang-malapad in Tagalog. They are often confused and mistaken to be the same.  The slight variation is the "rounded" shape of tanarius compared to grandifolia's "heart shape" with more pointed and sometimes curvy bottom tip.

All photos by Edgie Polistico are copyrighted. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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Let us know your opinion on the subject. Feel free to comment in the comment section, below. It is important for us to know what you think.

Tell us what other topics you would like us to write, share, and discuss.

For more about Filipino food, see  this Philippine Food, Cooking, and Dining Dictionary. It is OPEN and FREE.

Continue to follow my blogs. You can also follow and learn more by joining us in our Facebook group. Have more bits and pieces about our kind of food, ingredients, and ways of cooking, dining, and knowing food culture across the 7,641 islands of the Philippines. I will search for more and continue to share my findings. It is my pleasure to rediscover the known and least known things or the unheard ones and put them here for everyone to find, learn, and treasure. 

Encouragement and enthusiasm are not enough. I also need moral support, prayers, and anything else that can uplift my spirit and keep my good reasons. Keep them coming. All I know is that I am happy with what I am sharing and giving away. If you are pleased and happy with what I am doing, just smile and please share the happiness. Keep sharing and include to share the PHILIPPINE FOOD ILLUSTRATED. I feel energized when my blog becomes one of the reasons why you are happy and smiling. 

Edgie Polistico