Not your usual salt: Bohol's Asin Tibuok

Salt is so commonplace, you can find it free for the taking on the tables of the fanciest restaurants or the most hole-in-the-wall carinderias, in the kitchens of every home in every part of the world, in recipes from any kind of cuisine. You can even find it in your own sweat and tears.

 

It seems strange then that one would go through a long and complicated process to procure salt—but that’s exactly what the makers of Bohol’s Asin Tibuok do.

 

To obtain this rare salt, they soak coconut husks in seawater for several months, allowing them to absorb the salt from the water. After that, the husks are dried under the sun for a few days and then burned slowly to ashes.  

The ashes are then mixed with more seawater to form a brine, which is then boiled in clay pots so the salt can be harvested. The finished product is a big chunk of salt inside the pot—“tibuok” means “unbroken” in Bisaya. 

 

To use the salt, chunks are broken off and dipped into the stew or dish to be flavored, though it can also be finely ground and put in a saltshaker like regular table salt.  

The result of such a unique and specific process is a salt that tastes just as distinctive. A far cry from the iodized salt that’s in everyone’s kitchens, Bohol’s Asin Tibuok has a strange, smoky flavor with a fruity edge, perhaps because it comes from coconut ash.

 

At Mama Sita’s “Mga Kwentong Pagkain” event last Sept. 7, Chef Justin David and Chef Conrad Legaspi said that the salt’s unique taste perfectly complements the bold flavors of Asian cuisine. 

 

As if its flavor didn’t make it special enough, the Asin Tibuok is also something of a rarity—the salt is not available anywhere else other than the town of Alburquerque, Bohol, where only three families produce it. 

 

One of the three families uses the salt to barter for other goods at the local market, while the other family may stop production soon because they can no longer afford it.

 

In fact, there is only one family who takes orders for and sells the salt, according to student-researchers from Ateneo de Manila University’s School of Social Sciences. 

 

A representative of the family, Reynante Manungas, shared that the process is difficult, especially because they only get a few customers, composed mainly of tourists who buy the salt for its novelty, or believe that it has medicinal properties.

 

“In fact, one of the owners of this hotel, nabanggit na gumagamit nito talaga at talagang ine-export niya sa America, kasi ‘yung mga pamilya niya sa America, dinadalhan niya dun eh. Tapos siya, gumagamit talaga since she was confirmed with cancer, I don’t know what kind of cancer,” Manungas told GMA News Online.  

While his family continues to study the salt and determine its exact health benefits, Manungas said that since it’s organic, has natural iodine content and no chemical additives, the salt is popular with those who suffer from goiter.

 

Manungas said that his family presses on despite the difficulties of making the salt because they want to continue the special tradition which can only be found in their town.

 

“Walang manual ‘to eh. Wala ding ibang lugar na gumagawa nito, sa ‘min lang, sa Alburquerque,” he said.

 

“’Yung mga lolo at lola ko pa nagmana nito, pero ‘yung papa ko, uncle ko, hindi alam kung sa’n nanggaling ‘yung skills, kung saan nagsimula. Kami naman, gumagawa na ng manual para maipasa ito sa iba,” he shared. –KG, GMA News Those who want to taste the Asin Tibuok for themselves can order through (038) 539-9332, 09274884278, or email teyh19@yahoo.com.