The Coconut, Cookbooks and a Farm

During our childhood, we picnicked under the coconut trees in the family niogan in Tanauan, Batangas. Those were fun days, with the taller kids, with long, thin but sturdy wooden sticks, hitting hard at the fruits so they’d fall to the ground. Others dared to climb the trees to get at the clusters of fruit, which were halved, the juice sipped and the meat scooped out and devoured. Our elders made calamay from coconut, lambanog and vinegar. Through the years, this fruit–its milk and meat–took on a new dimension, made into pancit-like noodles, into creamy salad with lychees and definitely as a flavoring cream for a variety of dishes, from adobo sa gata to ginataang tilapia.

Now comes coconut oil–previously spurned because of the myth that it was not good for the health, pitted against the internationally promoted and heralded selection of "healthy oils" like corn, canola, soya, etc. Recent new findings presented to the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery late last year revealed–at a luncheon conference hosted by the International Wine & Food Society, Ladies Branch, United Coconut Association of the Philippines, Sirawan, Fiesta and Nature Fresh brands–that coconut oil provides protein, carbohydrates, minerals and essential fatty acids.

There has always been a debate about saturated, unsaturated and poly saturated fats. The coconut experts here say that while coconut oil is high in saturated fats, the kind of tryglicerides it contains must be considered, which takes a shorter way to the digestive system. From a layman’s point of view, coconut oil is low in fat and can be used as often as one would use any other kind of oil.

We do cook with a lot of coconut milk and at that gathering we discovered virgin coconut oil, cold-pressed, much like olive oil. This is not yet readily available in the market, but it can be found at the shop called Verde. It sells for P100 a small bottle and P200 for the big one. We fried our tilapia in this; the oil emitted a very fragrant smell and the fish indeed acquired a unique flavor.

The cookbooks–called "The Best Recipes of Nestle"–consist of three desk calendar-type culinary guides with recipes from ordinary dishes to master chefs’ specialties, which can easily be executed by any housewife, thus enabling her to serve impressive meals as daily fare or special occasion offerings. The experts who share their recipes in the third volume are Myrna Segismundo, Fern Aracama, Dorothy Ferreira, Rox Cailao, Heny Sison, Jeff Catral, Jundu Gueco, Vicky Villanueva and Joanne Limaonco. We commend Nestle for opening its Julius Maggi Kitchen to every woman/man who loves to cook and learn culinary techniques. The regular cooking lessons/lectures are free and this is a great public service.

There is a replica of a farm on Commerce Avenue, Filinvest, Muntinlupa, that is a showcase of what ‘farming in style’ could be should anybody decide to be a leisure farmer. This seems to be the current popular hobby of a lot of people. They farm, harvest, eat healthy and make some money from the produce. This is Nusa Dua (a beautiful place) in Tanza, Cavite, the first residential farm development by Filinvest Land Inc., a take off from the holiday haven of the same name in Bali, Indonesia. We spent a morning at the model ‘farm’, where budding farmers can look forward to a good harvest of broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, eggplant, Japanese kangkong and many others. Tired feet and bodies can also take a relaxing break in a Balinese-style country house with typical décor and greenery.

Try this simple recipe for pickled Japanese kangkong. Blanch the leaves in salted water, drain and set aside. Mix vinegar with water, salt, brown sugar, crushed garlic and chopped native onions. Add the leaves and let stand for about an hour before serving. Great with fried fish and meat.

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Lydia D. Castillo’s new e-mail address: [email protected]