bu-o

Pictures not mine. Photo credit to the owner, Chef Theodore Day Salonga.

bo-u - /bu-ow/ Cordilleran fungi (Benguet province, Mountain Province, Ifugao province, and Abra province) [n.] Cordilleran false truffle.

Other local common names:

• bu-o or bu-buo in Bokod, Benguet - pronounced as /bu-ow/ and /bu bu-ow/
• bu-o in Mountain Province - pronounced as /bu-ow/ 
• kankannool in Abra Province - pronounced as /kan-kan-no-'l/
• atayan in Sagada, Mountain Province - pronounced as /a-ta-yan/ 

Some claimed they found truffles in the Philippines but only to find out that what they found was not a real truffle but a local version of False Truffle (Scleroderma polyrhizum) often found in the mountains of Benguet province of Cordillera Administrative Region in central Luzon, Philippines.

Local food writers, bloggers, and vloggers unofficially gave this ball-shaped fungus an English name as the Bokod Truffle, Benguet Truffle, or Cordilleran Truffle, dubiously introducing and attracting truffle enthusiasts. It is misleading being that  Cordilleran bu-o is not a real truffle. Opportunists even pass on and marketed this Cordilleran wild mushroom as an expensive Philippine truffle. Be wary that the taste and aroma of bu-o are insignificant and far behind from the real truffle.

Bu-o would spontaneously sprout on the ground at the start of rainy seasons (year-end in the Philippines) towards the end of summer (mid-year) of the following year. It is not like the real truffle that would grow underground (subterranean) and be classified as among the tubers. Real truffle often needs a trained sniffing dog to easily detect and find one. However, in Cordillera, you don't need a sniffing dog to find a bu-o as you can easily find it sprouting out on the ground.

While still young, bu-o is completely white inside and looks similar to button mushrooms. Young bu-o is savored by Cordillerans just like the way usual mushrooms are taken as food. As the bu-o matures, the inside would develop dark spots and starts to look like truffles. 

The semblance in the appearance of the inside part of matured bu-o, particularly when cut, could easily fool anyone to assume it as a true truffle. But its thick outer layer (skin) is a giveaway telltale that it is not a true truffle.

In Cordillera, bu-o is prepared by peeling the thick light-brown skin off and slicing thinly the black inside portion. The slices are sautéed in garlic, onion, and ginger and added with vegetables (e.g. sliced green beans, kangkong, or chayote) towards the end of sautéing. To enhance taste, the dish is seasoned with a dash of salt, pepper, and pouring drops of vinegar and soy sauce.

So far, no incident of toxicity or poisoning had been reported or recorded yet from those who have taken this false truffle of central Luzon. Nonetheless, one has to be extra careful when taking this as food. Some mycology experts warned that this species could be toxic and may cause gastrointestinal disorders or even death. One has to be prudent when serving this wild mushroom. The adverse effect may take some time to manifest. Meanwhile, we don't find yet any known chemical sampling and toxicity test of bu-o to settle this issue. More studies and research are needed for this. If you know something, share it for awareness.

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References:

• Earth balls(Scleroderma), https://www.childrens.health.qld.gov.au/poisonous-plant-earth-balls-scleroderma/

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 the 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. 

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pakdol

Pakdol - /pak-dol/ Waray [Eastern Leyte] soupy dish [n.] A soupy dish of stewed marrow-rich shank or hocks and knee of carabao.

Similar Dishes

• bulalo  of Batangueño and Tagalog
• kansi  of Ilonggo
• pochero of Cebuano

Pakdol is a Waray soupy carabao dish of eastern Leyte. Originally made with a big cut of the carabao's upper leg (shank) or any cut portion of the upper leg down to the knee joints (hocks) and may also include a portion of the lower leg or any part of the limb in general.

Pakdol is often mistaken by diners, food writers, and bloggers that pakdol is a kind of nilagang baka when in fact it is of carabao (karabaw to the Warays).

When the carabao population dwindled and became restricted or limited in slaughterhouses, it was then that the shanks and knees of cows were used as substitutes. Pakdol's lesser version uses the pig's ham part complete with a portion of marrow-rich long bone and ball-joint of the pig's hip, stifle, elbow, or shoulder joints.

 

The big cut (slice) of this meat-bone part is stewed for 2 to 3 hours or until the meat and tendons around the bone are very tender but not letting the meat fall off from the bone.

A marrow-rich shank of carabao.

Pakdol is a soupy dish, comparably similar to the bulalo of Batangas only that the bulalo is originally of shanks and hocks or knees of a cow. Yes, Batangas bulalo is of cow, while pakdol is of carabao.

The broth of pakdol is basically seasoned only with salt and peppercorn, it may have a little amount of repolyo (cabbage), pechay (bok choy), and sitaw (string bean or yardlong bean). Optional add-ons are sibuyas pula (red onion), garlic, ginger, tanglad (lemon grass), tomatoes, and a souring fruit called aslum by Warays or the Garcinia binucao (batuan in Ilonggo).

As years went by, pakdol evolved or had fusion with other Philippine regional cuisines. There are those who would use similar incidental ingredients of Batangas bulalo dish, like adding corncob of yellow corn and/or ripe saging saba (plantain).

Occasionally, there are also those who would add gabi (taro) or white ube to thicken the soup slightly and add a savory creamy taste.

Pakdol is best taken when piping hot as the tallow (wax-like fats called sebo) would start to form and stick stubbornly on the surface and around the serving bowl when the broth is no longer warm.

The sebo (tallow) of carabao meat are starting to build up as tiny circles of floating wax when the broth cools down.

A serving of pakdol in Dahil Sa Iyo Fastfood, one of Tacloban City's oldest restaurants specializing this soupy dish until now.

Be wary that most restaurants and eateries in eastern Visayas are heavy users of vetsin (monosodium glutamate or MSG) as a seasoning in soupy dishes. It's OK if you got used to it. Otherwise, you better inquire if MSG was used in cooking before you ask for a serving if in case you are sensitive or not OK with vetsin. If the dish is yet to be prepared, ask the server or resto staff to tell the cook not to put MSG in your dish.

Dahil Sa Iyo Fastfood at 66 Real Street corner Burgos Street, Downtown, Tacloban City in Leyte province of Philippines.

The restaurant, Dahil Sa Iyo Fastfood, was named after the favorite song of Waray-Leyteño Imelda Romualdez Marcos, the wife of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos. The admiration of the resto owner to Mrs. Marcos led them to name this old-timer dining place after the First Lady's favorite song.

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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.

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

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 the 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 or 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  

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

mango chocolate

mango chocolate - /mang-go tso-ko-leyt/ (Cebuano sweet; dw Eng. mango + chocolate) [n.] chocolate coated dried mango.

Other local name:

• a.k.a. choco mangga in Cebuano

The ripe or rareripe mango fruit is peeled and sliced into thin slabs. The slices are blanched or steamed in boiling sugar syrup added with a flavoring of choice. 

The cooked sliced mango is strained and then dried either by sun drying or by heating in the oven. Big manufacturers used the “forced air dryer” method that utilizes a heater system to warm the air that is then blown using an industrial fan mechanism to dry the cooked sliced mangoes laid on wire mesh. 

Philippine Brand mango chocolate by Profood International Corporation (Central Visayas Philippines).

When dried, the mango is set to cool and then dipped in melted chocolate and set to stand until the chocolate hardens to coat the dried mango. Dry dark chocolate is commonly used for melted chocolate. The chocolate is melted using the bain marie (or double boiler) technique. The chocolate may also be flavored with vanilla essence or vanillin.

Mango Chocolate by Cacao de Davao is dried mango chips coated with 75% dark cacao chocolate that is made with cacao beans that are grown, harvested, and sundried from Davao.

Mango chocolate is pioneered and popularized in Cebu as a sweet treat. Originating as the famous Cebu dried mango that became a popular pasalubong. 

Philippine Brand mango chocolate by Profood International Corporation (Central Visayas Philippines)

The Cebu Best Mango Chocolate, which was launched in early 2011, claimed to be the first and original chocolate-dipped dried mango introduced in the market and was given as a gift to Pope Francis (Jorge Mario Bergogli) during his Papal Visit to the Philippines in 2015. 

Mango Chocolate by Dutché Chocolates Philippines.

The Cebu Best Mango Chocolate also served as diplomatic giveaways, airline treats, and snacks for presidential flights. 

Cebu Best Mango Chocolate are dried mangoes covered with delightful Belgian chocolate. It claimed to be the first and original chocolate-dipped dried mango introduced in the market. 

Photo courtesy by Cebu Best Mango Chocolate Fabecook page (@CebuBestMango) 

There are now many makers of mango chocolate in the country that carry their own brand names.

The other name for mango chocolate is choco mangga.

Choco Mangga by R&M Preserves is made with chewy mango strips half-covered in velvety chocolate. It comes in dark and white chocolate variants that received the Golden Shell Award.

Related posts: 

Evergreen mango

Miracle fruit

All photos by Edgie Polistico are copyrighted.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

References:

• Cebu Best, Our Story, http://www.cebubestmango.com/#OurStory
• Olchondra, Riza T. “Pioneering R&M levels up from dried mangoes,” Philippine Daily Inquirer, July 26, 2013, https://business.inquirer.net/134567/pioneering-rm-levels-up-from-dried-mangoes

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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.

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Edgie Polistico