(Product Development) Eastern Samar Pineapples

The pineapple growers of Maydolong, Eastern Samar have been growing the sweetest, juiciest fruit organically for decades on intensely fertile soil. In 2011, they were given a production facility by the government to make vinegar, jam, and "tidbits" (apparently the term for those pineapple bits on pizza). Though things have been slow to start for them, the community is getting ready for the harvest season (roughly around July til September, but you know how the climate is these days).

After Typhoon Yolanda ravaged the region, NGOs descended upon communities to provide assistance. A Czech NGO called People in Need (PIN) began supporting product development for agricultural startups, one of them being the pineapple producers. PIN got in touch with us because we had an existing project in cooperation with them, and for months now we've been throwing the idea around of coming out and taking a look.

And we finally did (Samar is gorgeous!). After a 3 hour ride from Tacloban to our lodgings, we took a 2.5 hour ride to Maydolong to the pineapple production facility. It's quite a full setup from the Department of Science and Techbology, and they even have like 3 years worth of glass jars that came with the grant. The space doesn't have piped in water yet, but they find ways to bring fresh water during production.

We were expecting the Ormoc Queen type (as Ormoc is close by and, well, generalizations), the long, skinny, sweet-yet-fibrous one. But the farmers in the area grow the "Hawaiian" type, which is fatter and also very VERY juicy. Never eaten juicier pineapples. The fruit takes 2 WHOLE YEARS to mature. 2 years! Like a tree crop. Aside from this long growing period, during peak season, when there is an avalanche of pineapples, some of the harvest just rots away, or the pineapples are sold for close to nothing.

Hence the beginning of this little project of ours, for sure we will try to give updates as we make more progress.

(Supplier Visit) Batangas Salt

If you grew up in the Parañaque area and/or have been alive for more than three decades, you are probably familiar with the sight of vast and flat irasan (salt beds). Our saltmaking style, in contrast to the Ilocano coast's "cooked salt" and the Boholano coconut husk method, has sprawling salt beds lined with shards of clay pots (rumor has it that they now make new "shards" specifically for salt beds, with demand for clay pots being on the decline for a tiny bit of time now). The saltwater is basically evaporated off by the sun and wind.

Shards of clay pots tamped to make salt bed floors.

Last April, upon the suggestion (and general directions) of a good friend, we found ourselves in the salt farm of a new supplier in Batangas. These and other producers are an integral part of the dried and fermented fish industries of the region.

There is a tendency to romanticize saltmaking--we envision the leisurely raking the beds in by workers in rustic straw hats, while a refreshing breeze furthers evaporation, leaving soft, billowy crystals. But it is truly backbreaking work under the brutal heat of the sun. And with industrial or consolidated salt taking over the palengkes (it is becoming more common to find Mindoro salt in Cebu), saltmaking is becoming a less profitable venture in many places. Salt farms are dwindling, except perhaps in Pangasinan and Mindoro.

Salt being collected in baskets.

The Batangas salt is very earthy, a salt-next-door. I have childhood memories of picking salt out of my eyebrows after swimming in Nasugbu. The high salinity of Batangas water results in a VERY salty salt. Our Batangas salt is perhaps the saltiest one we've ever carried. It still has mineral notes, but is very boldly salty, like-a-Hagibis-song-is-masculine salty. Perhaps the perfect salt for a preservation project, or for cooking.

Varied elevation allows gravity to distribute saltwater from the ocean throughout the beds.

Slippers of storage staff need to be tacked onto wooden planks to avoid wounded feet.

More slippers.

(Supplier Visit) Silk Workshop

Bombyx mori at work.

Recently we visited the silk center in Negros Occidental where we source our silk cocoons for facial grooming. It is run by a Japanese lady who also makes marvelous natural dyes and silk products. We are actually looking to carry their wonderful shawls at the shop.They are truly some of the best we've seen so far.

Apparently our climate is perfect for silk production, because we don't need greenhouses to keep the worms warm. The government has been trying to encourage sericulture as an alternative to conventional crop production, and in some places, the people are starting to grow it instead of marijuana (whether that is a good or bad thing, is up to you...).

The silk worms are fed mulberry (Morus alba) leaves. They then spin a cocoon, which is unraveled in hot water and spun into fibers. The pre-unravelled cocoon is what you use for your face, FYI. Here are a few more pictures:

Worm close-up.

Mulberry or Morus alba leaf. The mulberry tree grows super vigorously, almost like a large weed.

Must not let ants eat the worms.