biti


biti - (bi-tì; Bicolano [Camarines sur] preserved) [n.] dried salted swim bladder of abo fish (tiger toothed croaker), a kind of local fish found in the seas of Camarines sur in Bicol.


When dried and uncooked, biti is flat and leathery.

Biti is rare and priced expensive when available. 


Dried biti I bought from the public market of Legazpi City in 2015.

It is cooked by pan-frying on low to medium fire. It would swell and turns crisp like chicharon when cooked.

Biti would expand and swell like balloon when pan fried. 
Pan frying has to be done quickly on medium fire. Biti would easily get scorched and burned. It must be golden brown when cooked, not dark brown.

It can be served as breakfast meal with sinangag na kanin (pan-fried rice) and sunny-side-up chicken egg, or served as snack or pulutan (food served along with alcoholic drinks). 


Dried biti is very light in weight, almost like that of paper.
As of 2009, a kilo of biti is worth around P1,200.00 in Naga City.  In 2015, it is sold at P2,500.00 a kilo in Naga City and up to P3,000.00 or more in other places outside the city.

A handful of biti I found in the public market of Legazpi City in 2015.

This dried internal organ of abo fish is hardly found outside Camarines sur in Bicol or anywhere else in the country.

A sheet of dried bitiI found in People's Mall (a public market) of Naga City in 2015.
10 grams of biti is priced at PHP250 in 2015 when I found it in the People's Mall ( a public market) of Naga City in 2015. 
A handful of biti from the public market of Naga City
A pack and a handful of biti. I found this in the public market of Naga City during one of my travels in Camarines sur (Bicol) in 2009


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