sweet tuba


sweet tuba - (swet tu-bâ; Pangasinese sap/drink) [n.] fresh toddy of raffia palm; It is the freshly gathered toddy of buri palm (raffia).

tuba or tuba ng buri in Tagalog and Batangueño
a.k.a. tuba in Pangasinense

When freshly gathered in the morning, it can be taken as a naturally sweet refreshing drink. 


A serving of sweet tuba in a glass filled with cracked iced. It is sold by bottles (using recycled softdrink glass bottle) in Balongao, Pangasinan
Passing motorists, locals, and tourists would often come and stay for while in a cluster of roadside stalls, such as this one, along the highway in Balongao, Pangasinan to savor or try the taste of refreshing sweet tuba.  It is refreshingly tasty like coco water with distinct aftertaste closely similar to that of a ripe rambutan fruit

Sweet tuba needs to be chilled in ice or stored in freezer to extend shelf life for few more hours, or to last for at least late in the afternoon. By early evening the toddy will start to sour despite employing the chilling technique

While still fresh and sweet, the Pangasinenses would boil the sweet tuba till thick and sticky, as in the way they used it as their sticky sweetener in making the Pangasinense patupat (glutinous rice in square-woven strips of coconut palm).

In Batangas, it is made into Batangueño pakaskas (raffia sap jiggery, which is now replaced with juice extracted from sugarcane), or processed into bagkat (raffia sap taffy). Sweet tuba will not last long in a day. By afternoon, or past noon, the toddy would start to sour that by evening it becomes a lightly soured vinegar. 


A serving of sweet tuba in a glass filled with cracked iced. It is sold by bottles (using recycled softdrink glass bottle) in Balongao, Pangasinan. Bottles of sweet tuba have to stored in styrofoam box filled with water and cracked ice to chill the bottled toddy. Chilling will help extend shelf life to few more hours before it becomes sour.

 In few more days, it will be a full-pledged vinegar  known in Ilocano as sukang buli (raffia palm vinegar) or tuka silag in Pangasinense
A serving of sweet tuba in a glass filled with cracked iced.in Balongao, Pangasinan

A serving of sweet tuba in a glass filled with cracked iced. It is sold by bottles (using recycled softdrink glass bottle) in Balongao, Pangasinan

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