snake wine

A snake wine with the Philippine king cobra in a bottle. The snake is called banakon in Cebuano or ulupong in Tagalog. The slender snake is called iliw in Cebuano. Both snakes are known to be extremely venomous.

snake wine - /es-nek wayn/ Cebuano and Tagalog wine [n.] a spirit soaked with a snake.

A freshly killed snake (complete with its scales, skin, flesh, bones, and internal organs) is steeped in spirit or clear (transparent) distilled wine until the juice from the body of the snake partly became the flavor of the wine.

Snake wine is taken as a potent drink and is believed to have some medicinal benefits, add vitality, energy, and as an aphrodisiac or something that boosts one’s sexual appetite.

The authentic "Cobra Energy Drink." Unlike the commercially bottled cobra energy drink, this snake wine will not cause you to worry about having diabetes. The snake wine has no sugar added in it. What you will get is a real cobra in a bottle -  not just a label with a drawing or printed illustration of snake.

The usual kind of snakes used in making snake wine are those that are highly poisonous like the dreaded Philippine king cobra (Naja philippinensis) known as banakon in Cebuano or ulupong in Tagalog. Another known highly venomous snake is the Cebuano iliw.

The usual spirits used as a base for this potent drink are the hinebra (gin), vodka, lambanog (Philippine coconut arrack), anisado (anise wine), and naturally fermented rice wine.

I found this man peddling a bottle of snake wine on the sidewalk of Ormoc City in western part of Leyte, Philippines.  He told me that he used a local gin with a brand name Mallorca as base spirit for this potent drink.

To convince me that it is safe to drink snake wine, this man swigs a shot of snake wine.

Few seconds later, the drink started to warm his body. This man told me it would keep him active for a day. Awesome. Honestly, I was actually stunned when he did that. I thought the potent spirit he drank would later take his spirit away. But no, he stayed alive.

In 2018, while on the strawberry farm of La Trinidad, Benguet (about 10 Kilometers or 6 miles north of Baguio City), I found more variations of local snake wines. They are quite expensive. The smallest bottle (350 ml) of snake wine is sold at PHP1,000.00 each and the biggest ones are between PHP3,000 to PHP4,000.

More bottled snake wines in La Trinidad, Benguet using different kinds of venomous Cordilleran snakes.

See me sampling a shot of snake wine that is made with rattle snake from Kiangan, Benguet. Click or tap the photo, below, to watch the Facebook video.

SNAKE WINE from Kiangan, Benguet is very expensive. This one is of rattle snake in lambanog with ginseng root. I don't know how they got rattle snake here in Benguet. A shot glass is P150.00. Every drip counts. (June 08, 2018)

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

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igat (dried)

Dried igat (sea eel) sold at the roadside stalls in Brgy. Damortis, Sto. Tomas, Pangasinan.

igat – /i-gat/ (Tagalog, Pampangueño (Capampangan), Pangasinense, Ilocano, Maranao, and Maguindanao sea fish) [n.] dried sea eel.

In Pangasinan, sea eel is made into tuyo (dried) traditionally by sun drying. The igat fish (sea eel) is cleaned of its gills, gutted,  soaked in a brine solution, drained, then sundried. 

When dry, it is cut into pieces (about 2 inches long) and is often sold in cutlet form. Dried igat is considered by Pangasinenses (local folks of Pangasinan) to be a "pampatigas ng tuhod" (potent knee jerker and aphrodisiac). 

It can be fried, grilled, or used as sahog in vegetable dishes.

See also igat 

Below, is a serving of fried dried igats with a dip of sukang Iloko with sliced fresh ripe tomatoes.

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