Bottle of Bliss

THIS is a bottle of actively - almost violently - bubbling, wonderfully sweet, thirst-quenching, happily intoxicating and naturally produced, therefore organic, drink called TUBA in the Philippines (sometimes LAMBANOG), aka BAHAR in Sabah and TUAK and TODDY (elsewhere in Malaysia). To Indians it's KALLU (கள்ளு) (കള്ള്) and Chinese drinkers call it YE JIU (椰酒) or YE HUA JIU (椰花酒) . It's made from the sap that oozes out of the flower (inflorescence) of the coconut palm when it is cut (a process known as tapping).

This sweet white sap is collected in a container attached to the flower stump and begins fermenting almost as soon as it is tapped due to natural yeasts in the air (spurred by residual yeast left in the collecting container). Within two hours, fermentation yields an aromatic and sweet beer-strength wine of up to 4% alcohol content. When allowed to ferment longer, up to a day, a stronger and more acidic drink which some people prefer is produced. Longer fermentation, however, produces vinegar which can only be used in cooking instead of stronger wine!

Thank you Mee for buying and sharing this bottle of bliss with me! ;)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

lami ang tuba basta tam-is but most of the drinkers palainum as we call they dont like tam-is or sweet, coz it doent make them satisfy

alindanaw... said...

The fresh tuba is very thirst-quenching, just like soda but with a kick! :)

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