Filipino ube

There are so few sources of good news these days. One of them is Alex Eala. Another is ube.

Our purple yam has gone global. There are food items and recipes in many countries for everything ube, from mochi to latte, milk bread and cheesecakes. And I’m glad most of them mention that it is “Filipino ube,” pointing out that the purple sweet potato popular in Taiwan is different.

I’ve been an ube lover since childhood, when our frequent family visits to Baguio City always included bringing back to Manila a bottle of ube halaya made by the Good Shepherd sisters. My favorite “dirty ice cream” flavors were cheese and ube.

There was also a private home in San Juan where our family bought the most delectable puto ube.

In adulthood as I started enjoying baking, ube cake became one of my favorites. I often wondered why ube wasn’t more popular globally.

Apart from the Good Shepherd nuns, a businessman in Chinatown saw the potential of ube decades ago.

Tsinoy volunteer firefighter Gerry Chua says incorporating ube into his Chinese hopia saved his family’s Eng Bee Tin deli from going under in the 1980s. The ube hopia became such a hit that when Chua bought fire trucks for his volunteer brigade, he had them painted in a vibrant ube color.

The crew in his restaurant where firefighters get free meals – my favorite fastfood place in Chinatown, Café Mezzanine – wear ube-colored t-shirts. Near the restaurant, Chua, known as Mr. Ube, has built a multi-story events place called, what else, Ube Tower.

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Filipino ube – powder, halaya and flavoring – is now achieving the global renown of matcha. It’s good to know that ube producers have banded together for quality control and propagation of the best varieties, and to help the industry grow further.

Ube production and related enterprises could revitalize agriculture in many areas.

We have other agricultural products with potential to become another ube, with sufficient support from the government.

One is Bicol’s special crop, pili. It tastes better than almond and it can compete with expensive macadamia. Pili oil can be extracted and sold as a pricey specialty oil. Powdered pili can be used for fondant and macarons, although a special oven is needed to dry out the oily kernel before grinding.

One problem is the difficulty of shelling the pili. I’ve seen some improvised pili nut cracking machines, but so far none for large-scale operation.

Walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts and Brazil nuts also have tough shells, and even almonds can be tedious to shell. Yet they are sold and exported in large volumes – halved, shelled, sliced, diced, slivered or, in the case of almonds, as expensive specialty flour. There are machines for mass shelling of macadamia, the hardest nut to crack.

Bicolanos need government support to turn pili into a major cash crop, before a neighboring country discovers its potential, grows pili and beats us to it. The Philippines has been way behind neighbors in exporting canned coconut cream and coconut juice. We have yet to can bamboo shoots, and yet to catch up in exporting canned mangosteen. Filipino wholesalers import cashew from Vietnam. We can package and export our dalandan like canned mandarin oranges.

The government can jump-start such enterprises by providing technical support, providing financing for innovative start-ups, and working with the private sector to organize the supply chain, from farming to processing and marketing.

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The cacao growers and chocolate processors of Davao are already making a name internationally for top-quality chocolate with distinctive Pinoy flavors. Coffee varieties from various provinces are also competing with the traditional global market leaders.

I’ve written about Ilocos garlic, whose premium quality deserves a product appellation. Instead of becoming more readily available, however, its production seems to be shrinking, overshadowed by larger but inferior quality imports notably from Taiwan.

The tiny pineapples of Tagaytay are exceptionally sweet. We have avocado varieties that can compete with the pricey Hass variety first grown and sold by horticulturist Rudolph Hass in Southern California, but which is now flooding our fruit markets.

In other areas of food production, sea salt from Pangasinan can compete with France’s fleur de sel. And for exotic appeal, our “dinosaur egg” salt or asin tibuok from Bohol is finally getting global attention.

These developments can not only raise the incomes of rural communities, but also make agriculture an attractive lifelong career for our youths.

Credit for the popularity of ube is being given not to any government program, but to a world made smaller by social media.

The private sector is doing its part in promoting Philippine products to the world.

Private sector initiatives are credited for a slight increase in domestic dairy production. Our buffalo or carabao milk is exceptionally creamy and would be terrific for making expensive mozzarella. With cow milk production also growing, I’m waiting for our dairy farms to soon roll out not only quesong puti but also other cheeses and premium fresh butter.

For a greater boost in agricultural production especially in underdeveloped farming communities, however, both the national and local governments must take a more aggressive role.

We’re proud of Pinoy ube. There are other products we can offer to the world, which we can describe with pride as best sourced “only in the Philippines.”