I was able to acquire this artisan salt “egg” called Asin tibuok from Albuquerque, Bohol. It is one of the rarest and most expensive salts in the world.
In 2016, the Slow Food Adjudicating Committee inducted and recognized Asin Tibuok in their internationally acclaimed Ark of Taste —a collection or a catalog of unique but endangered heritage foods that are part of a particular ecoregion.
Distribution of Asin Tibuok was halted when the Philippine government passed the “ASIN LAW” in 1995, requiring salt manufacturers to add iodine to their salt products. Creating and crafting this salt is tied to and rooted in the community’s culture. When this law came to pass, many indigenous communities and their unique pre-colonial salt-making process slowly died and disappeared.
Currently, this traditional salt-making and preservation, is slowly reviving. Slowly jud kay ang mga bata karon dili tanan makasugakod sa proseso. The labor process in making this salt is long and labor-intensive. It starts with soaking coconut husks in slated mangrove pools for at least three months. Then these husks will be sun-dried for a day or two. After sun-drying, they prepare the husks to create a concentrated salt brine. They make this by:
- burning the husks in a controlled manner and
- pouring sea water into it regularly.
This process of burning and regularly pouring saltwater lasts for three days. The ashes collected from this method are then collected in large filters where seawater is then poured, and salt is leached, to create a concentrated brine.
On a separate wood fire, specially made pots are being heated. In these pots, the brine will be poured in increments. For each pour, the brine is closely monitored as it evaporates and leaves salt sediments. This will continue for approximately eight hours. The clay pots must be filled with salt sediments or they will crack. When done right, the “asindero” (salt-maker) will end up with a salt orb that would weigh approximately a kilo.
Traditionally, you dip this orb in soups and rinse it clean afterward. For us back home, we crack the orb, scrape the salt, and sprinkle it on whatever dish we are cooking.
If you are in the Philippines, you can purchase this salt at this Asin Tibuok FB page. It costs Php800 + shipping.
For a more visual information about Asin Tibuok, check this video by FEATR:
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