Suman sa ibos

Filipinos traveling home or visiting friends and relatives are always loaded with gifts, which we all call “uwi” or “pasalubong.” More often than not, these gifts are edible specialties unique to the place they have just come from—bagnet from Vigan, longanisa from Lucban, piaya from many Visayan cities, patupat from Ilocos, chicharon from Bulacan.

All of these favorites share common qualities. They travel well and keep well without refrigeration, they do not leak, and they are liked by everyone.
Meeting all these qualifications is suman, one kakanin that is found all over the archipelago in many shapes and sizes, made of whole and ground grains, roots, and fruits wrapped in banana leaf, coconut, and palm leaves or corn husk. There is such a wide choice that when offered Suman, people often ask: “Anong klase (what kind)?”

Grilled suman

Traveling through northern Luzon, one cannot avoid encountering dozens of pasalubong peddlers who knock on car windows and bravely board speeding buses. Their most popular offering is tupig, which to outsiders looks like grilled suman. In some ways, it is.
Tupig is made of ground glutinous rice, sugar, coconut milk, and strips of buko (young coconut) wrapped in banana leaf, about two tablespoons per leaf. The tupig is flattened to ensure even cooking, then broiled over charcoal until the banana leaf wrapper is brown with a few scorched spots.

Patupat

Classified as a kind of suman, patupat is unique in appearance and cooking method. It is prepared all over the Ilocos region during sugar cane harvest season.
Unlike suman, patupat requires meticulous work preparing woven palm leaf pouches, in which plain unsoaked malagkit is poured. The sealed pouches are simmered in pure sugar cane juice for up to an hour and allowed to drip by hanging over the cooking vessel. The high sugar content preserves the patupat for many days.

Suman sa ibos

May is fiesta time all over the Philippines. For many, it is time for pilgrimage to the miraculous Nuestra Señora de Buenviaje. For hundreds of years, barefooted pilgrims have walked from the city to the Antipolo Basilica. Famous paintings show how ladies were transported through the long voyage comfortably in a woven rattan and bamboo hammock carried by muscular men. Our celebrated hero Jose Rizal made a pilgrimage to Antipolo to fulfill the vow made by his mother to take Jose to the Shrine of the Virgin of Antipolo should she and her child survive the ordeal of delivery, which nearly killed her.

Some of today’s pilgrims still take off their footwear before starting their walk to fulfill a vow. One of the most famous modern-day Antipolo pilgrims was the late actor and presidential candidate Fernando Poe, Jr. who could not stop hundreds of followers and fans from walking with their idol. Their large group often wiped out stocks of pasalubong that Antipolo is famous for: Suman sa ibos, roasted kasuy (cashew) nuts, duhat, ripe mango.

Suman sa lihiya

Sticky rice (Malagkit) is soaked in coconut milk and a little lye, then packed in banana leaves folded into rectangular packets. Two packets are tied together, seams facing each other. Romantic Filipinos call this sumang yakap, literally meaning embracing suman. It is served with a version of latik that is nothing more than a thin matamis na bao.This suman is made in so many towns and provinces that no one place claims to be its origin.

Moron

Warays claim moron as their own, although its popularity has spread all over the Visayas and Bicol regions. Its ingredients could vary slightly depending on the season but a mainstay, chocolate, could not be absent.
The Warays grow different types of taro (elephants’ ears) that we collectively call gabi. The Warays, however, hold one kind of gabi as the most special. Gaw-ay with purple flesh is reserved for the best moron makers and to serve with the famous Tacloban lechon.

To make moron, malagkit is soaked in pure coconut milk and spooned on steamed banana leaves. Chocolate powder is mixed with the rice and tablea (chocolate tablets) are arranged on the surface of the rice before the banana leaf is rolled to close, twisted to achieve that signature moron look. The two ends are tied with abaca string.

Balinghoy at ube

Cassava, known locally as balinghoy or kamoteng kahoy, is sometimes listed as yuca or manioc. It was brought over from the Americas by the Spaniards. To prepare, cassava roots must be peeled well and washed very thoroughly. The roots are grated, squeezed of excess liquids, and flavored with coconut milk, vanilla, and sugar. The mixture is packed in banana leaf squares, folded then steamed for 20 minutes.
For variety, ube powder or sliced ripe langka or both are added to the grated cassava. Suman balinghoy is so flavorful it needs no dip or topping.

Puso

Only Tagalogs like me would call this Suman na kanin. It is appropriately named as it approximates the size and shape of a human heart.
Puso is steamed, sold at sidewalks stalls to be eaten straight from the wrapping. One bite of rice, one bite of pork BBQ or grilled sweet Cebu longganisa. No need for plate, spoon or fork and one’s hands stay clean.

Suman and family bonding

All Saints’ Day, New Year, and Holy Week were periods  of family togetherness for my lola, who expected all 12 grandchildren to help prepare kakanin for visiting relatives to take home as pasalubong.

The boys were assigned to cut young banana leaves and grind soaked rice using the heavy gilingang bato (stone grinder) the day before the holiday. It was also their task to gather firewood for cooking the suman. On the eve of the feast, they gathered mature coconut (niyog), which they husked and grated, squeezing all the coconut mik from the meat.

Us girls cleaned the rice of stones, unhusked palay, and foreign seeds.  We cut and cleaned the leaves. Freshly cut banana leaves had to be wilted over a fire to make them pliant.

The entire family, all three generations, talked, ate, worked through the night, and proudly showed off baskets of various suman by daybreak. We were all tired and sleepy, but the excitement of reuniting with relatives and friends kept us going for the rest of the holiday season.

It seems like centuries ago when families ate together, worshipped together, and generally stayed together. Pasalubong these days mean boxes of franchise donuts or chocolates and sweets ordered on the internet and delivered by motorcycle riders. Relatives often prefer visiting tourist spots than reuniting with hometown kin, who they only “see” virtually on their cell phone screens.

We sure have gone a long way, the wrong way.