Salt of the earth

They say you only need three good things for good food: fire, fat and salt. But many people dismiss salt or asin as an ordinary ingredient, something we routinely and mindlessly put on food, even before tasting its natural flavors. But salt is a lot more complex than just these white grains you use for eating green mango, pomelo or even apples (I did this when I was little).

I met a salt crusader and advocate in the person of Dr. Kathleen Apilado, who told me about artisanal salts found around the Philippines. Apparently, our cultural communities, mostly those who live by the sea, always had a salt-making tradition using different methods like sand, coconut husks and, for some, salt beds that look like rice fields from afar.

She discovered there are six or more places known for local salts: Pangasinan (root word asin or salt) for sugpo (prawn) asin; Botolan, Zambales; Cavite; Guimaras; Ilocos and Bohol. She got interested in what her children were eating and took up the cause to find our local salts. The closest place for her to visit was Botolan, Zambales, which is known for asin Buy-o, in a unique packaging of banana leaves shaped like a wine bottle for a unique way of making artisanal salt.

She learned that there used to be a hundred families involved in salt production but when she got to the area, she found only four families remaining in the craft. That point was a major decision for her to help these families return to the salt-making traditions. What did they need? A steady market for their produce. It was not so easy to do that as the Salt Law was enacted in 1995 which prohibited the public from buying salt that was not iodized. An archaic law enacted to “help” children with Vitamin A deficiency allowed only one company to get into iodizing salt, like a monopoly. And somehow, because of this law, the artisanal salt makers had to either close shop, work undercover or go to jail, to put it simply. You can listen to our podcast on salt in Spotify or Apple Podcasts under Good and Green hosted by yours truly.

The Salt Law was finally amended almost 20 years later to now include artisanal salts, saving our country’s food culture and heritage. I guess now the solution for iodine deficiency is not just salt, our lawmakers realized. And that there is more taste in sea salts than table salt laden with chemicals and other foreign matter.

If Himalayan salt became popular among chefs, our artisanal salts now became the new ingredient most chefs started to use, much to their pleasant surprise. Thanks to the idea of Slow Food communities all over the country, each area’s salt has now come back to life. By promoting them among chefs and consumers, the salt industry was given a boost in terms of promotions and increased awareness among consumers.

Another reason for the amendment to the Salt Law is to stop further importation of salt, causing us millions of dollars. Why import when we have our long coastlines waiting to help in developing the salt industry once more. This can provide thousands of employment opportunities in the fisherfolk and marine sector. This can also be an opportunity to discover new salt producers and start off new entrepreneurial ventures. After all, everyone needs salt. Even the coconut industry uses a lot of salt to condition the soil in coconut plantations, or even in one’s backyard collection of coconuts.

We are thankful the Philippine Salt Industry Development Act, Republic Act 11985, was recently signed into law. It will provide a comprehensive roadmap to implement programs and interventions in technology, marketing and other much-needed services from government agencies. Salt, processed and unprocessed, shall be exempt from all taxes.

And this is a good development for the culinary sector as there has been a lot of talk about sea salt being the preferred salt of chefs and cooks. We have seen Himalayan sea salt which is imported, while we have our own local salts to be proud of. I have a stash of different sea salts from around the country and I believe each kind gives a different depth of flavor to particular recipes or food as simple as grilled meats.

We recently had a food demo done by no less than Chef Beth Romualdez where she salted Iberico pork with three different local salts. If you close your eyes you will better appreciate the flavor given by each salt. Chef Beth used three local salts: sugpo (from Pangasinan and coming from shrimp salt water); tibuok from Bohol and tultul from Guimaras. Our audience had an “aha!” moment as they tried each morsel of pork, lightly salted and grilled. No added ingredient except salt.

This is why we have to be more particular when we ask for salt (and pepper…another topic for another day) from restaurants and cafes. First of all, we should not be adding table salt as some chefs take it as an insult to their talent or expertise when we adulterate their creation. Second, we should be careful when people add salt without first tasting the food. Third, if we must ask for salt, let it be local or sea salt, not iodized or powdered salt.

We like to grind our own salt for the occasional different taste it brings to food. We like to eat salt with green or unripe mangoes, santol or duhat and other local fruits we take with yes, a grain of salt. But I also use salt for its all-around medicinal use, like a saline gargle for sore throat. A washing solution to cleanse and detox skin conditions. A Neti saline nasal spray to clear sinuses.

Salt is not just food, it is a medicine. After all, Hippocrates already said it: let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. Or maybe you can just be the salt of the earth.