Reviving the Bahay Kubo Culture

In observance of World Food Day October 16, 2015. Theme: “Social Protection and Agriculture: Breaking the Cycle of Rural Poverty”, and how this links with the UN theme for Expo 2015, “The Zero Hunger Challenge · United for a sustainable world”.
and International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, 17 October 2015. Theme: Building a sustainable future: Coming together to end poverty and discrimination
 
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid  738 DZRB AM with Ms Melly C Tenorio 
8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

My Nipa Hut, oil painting by AVRotor (2000)

Here is a plan of a Homesite - an ideal integrated garden around a home in a rural setting. Compare this with Bahay Kubo. Update it. Innovate it according to your concept, situation and needs. Allow innovations as long as these do not lose the essence of the plan. You can even expand the area, adding more features to it.

In effect, this Homesite model becomes a model farm, a Homestead - one that has economic and ecological attributes that characterize the concept of sustainable productivity cum aesthetics and educational values.


I invite all followers and readers of this Blog to adopt these models in their own capacities wherever they reside - in the rural or urban area - and whenever they find them feasible, and thus join the movement which PBH has been carrying on in the last twenty years or so.

It is for this nationwide campaign that PBH has earned, among other programs, the Oscar Florendo Award for Developmental Journalism, indeed a tribute to all those who have participated, and are going to participate, in the pursuit of the noble objectives of this campaign.

Draw an aerial view of an ideal Filipino home on the country side (homestead, meaning, the dwelling and homelot), based on the Bahay Kubo concept. Modify it to meet present situation, objectives and goals. Fit the lyrics into your illustration. Label properly. On another bond, "sell" (social marketing) your obra maestra, in an essay or feature. 
Bahay kubo, hahit munti, ang halaman doon ay sari-sari. Singkamas at talong, sigidillas at mani, sitao, batao, patani. Kondol, patola, upo, kalabasa, at sa ka mayroon pa, labanos, mustasa. Sibuyas, kamatis, bawang at luya, at ang paligidligid ay linga.

Nipa hut*, even though it is small
The plants it houses are varied
Turnip and eggplant, winged bean and peanut
String bean, hyacinth bean, lima bean.

Wax gourd, luffa**, white squash and pumpkin,
And there is also radish, mustard,
Onion, tomato, garlic, and ginger
And all around are sesame seeds.

Acknowledgment: Mama Zisa’s World
International Music & Culture

Why is the Bahay Kubo (Nipa Hut) and its variants in Asia and the Pacific Region (also in other parts of the world) gaining popularity? With eco-tourism and agro-tourism on the rise, economic difficulties notwithstanding, the bahay kubo is at center stage.

Tourists love it, and the bahay kubo bamboo craft industry is gaining popularity abroad. Bahay Kubo for export!

A bahay kubo is easy to make - structurally and aesthetically. It allows modification in size, dimension, design and make, usually with materials that are locally available. It is popularly affordable, a solution to the present housing problem.

No, it is not the shanty that is being pictured. The shanty, in fact, is the anti-thesis of the bahay kubo. It undermines its purpose and beauty, and most importantly, the pride and dignity of this symbol of Filipino heritage.

• Today it is common to see city homes having a bahay kubo in their backyard, so with tops of buildings. At a distance one can glimpse a bahay kubo perched on a high rise building.

• Vacation houses and beach cottages, also beer gardens and reception centers, are of the bahay kubo design and make.

• Imagine the tree house of the Swiss Family Robinson, in a novel of the same title by Johann Wyss. Let's not get far. Filipinos like to build houses on trees. There's one in Rosario (La Union) perched on a huge acacia tree.

• So with fancy doghouses and bird cages. Have you observed pig pens, poultry houses or sheds designed after the bahay kubo?

But these are but decorative and fancy, although functional in many respects. They are offshoots of imagination to combine the modern and the native. They bring out nostalgic feelings and relief among migrants from the old barrio. They introduce to the young tradition and the ways of our ancestors they only know from books, TV and the Internet. They too, enliven the spirit of pre-Hispanic culture, of being oriental, and nationalistic. Or to be different by not going with the uncharted current of change. And there are other reasons. But why the bahay kubo revived? Evolved?

• Going natural? Count the bahay kubo - no plastics, no paints, and the least use of non-biodegradable materials. It is a self-contained system of recycling.

• It is energy saving, in fact independent, save some lighting. Fireplace is designed for firewood, windows allow sunlight and breeze freely. There's no need of vacuum cleaner, polisher, and other amenities of an urban home.

• Nothing beats Going Natural by having fresh fruits and vegetables, clean air and water, adequate exercise from home and garden chores. And having trees and plants around. That's natural air conditioning.

• It's tranquil and cool, no echoing walls and ceiling, in fact it is acoustically efficient to deaden noise. More so with the trees; they absorb sound and dust, and keep humidity and temperature stable. They serve as natural windbreak, and barrier of sudden gusts.

The bahay kubo is a way to escape burgeoning city life - from heavy traffic, pollution, high tech, high finance, loaned amenities, busy lanes, to anxiety and depression. It cushions tendency of ostentatious living.





Evolution of the Bahay Kubo.  These models retain the essence of the Bahay Kubo Culture.

Move over American Bungalow. Here is Bahay Kubo revived and evolved.

Bahay kubo is the symbol of bayanihan or cooperativism. It is relocating a whole and intact house from one place to another in the same neighborhood, on bare shoulders, so to speak, in a festive and quaint atmosphere. It is our dream as a people to be strong the bayanihan way. And to live simply, naturally, happy, healthy, and long, with the whole family.

Mabuhay ang Bahay Kubo. ~

Bayanihan, painting by Lito Barcelona

Added reference: SEARCH earlier post, Bahay Kubo;Living with Nature, AVR; acknowledgment, Sheet Music Lisa Yannucci; painting Lito Barcelona, from Internet.

International Year of Soils 2015 Day of celebration: December 5

"We now have adequate platforms to raise awareness on the importance of healthy soils and to advocate for sustainable soil management. Let us use them." Jose Graziano da Silva, FAO Director-General...

  

 The Rape of Mt Apo

 Dust Bowl Images 

 The Dust Bowl, also known as the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the US and Canadian prairies during the 1930s; severe drought and a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent wind erosion (the Aeolian processes) caused the phenomenon.

Acknowledgement: Internet photos

I love the hornbill (kalaw)

I Love the Hornbill (kalaw)

I love the hornbill for being the subject of art of the young, 

reborn in the heart of the new generation. - avr

Dr Abe V Rotor

 Hornbill by a stream (detail of a wall mural) by the author 2015

A pair of hornbill in pastel by Anna Christina Rotor

I love the hornbill for its colorful plumage, prominent in the distance, 
breaking the monotony of green foliage;

I love the hornbill for its huge bill from which it got its name - tough,
powerful, bright red with yellow and green;

I love the hornbill for its thunderous, resonating call, vibrating through 
the forest, echoing on cliffs and giant trees;

I love the hornbill for its gregarious nature, faithful to its family and clan, protective of its kind, and niche its home; 

I love the hornbill for being a guardian of the forest, sentinel at all times, 
and early rouser each day;

I love the hornbill for its presence - ultimate reference of an unspoiled  
landscape spared from human;

I love the hornbill for being the subject of art of the young, reborn
in the heart of the new generation. ~

Village Biotechnology - Green Revolution OF, FOR and BY the People

In observance of World Food Day October 16, 2015,
and International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, 17 October 2015 Theme:  Building a sustainable future: Coming together to end poverty and discrimination
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog [avrotor.blogspot.com]
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid  738 DZRB AM with Ms Melly C Tenorio 
8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

"Many village industries bowed out to companies that now control the production of commercial and imported brands, such as patis, suka, puto, nata, bihon, to name a few. The proliferation of many products and the inability of local products to keep up with the growing sophisticated market have further brought the doom of these originally village products. Definitely under such circumstances the small players under the business parameter of economies of scale* find themselves at the losing end. Bigness is name of the game. Can we regain the lost village-based biotechnology industries?"

 My father, a gentleman farmer, was a brewer. He inherited the trade from my grandfather and from previous generations. I still use today the good earthen jars in producing the same products – basi, the traditional Ilocos wine, and its by-product, natural vinegar - using the same indigenous formula.

The making of basi and vinegar, as well as a dozen other products of sugarcane, like panocha, pulitiput, kalamay, sinambong, and kinalti, is a traditional cottage industry in the Ilocos region which is traced back to the Pre-Hispanic era when hundreds of small independent brewers like my father lived comfortably on this once flourishing industry.

Things appeared simple then. But time has changed. We know that sugarcane has long been planted with rice, legumes and vegetables, but it sounds like new in modern parlance with terms like crop rotation or crop diversification. Making of wine, vinegar and confectionary products are under agro-industry. Because the process generates profit, we call this value-added advantage. So with the tax that is now slap manufactured products. To determine the business viability of a business we determine its internal rate of return (IIR) and its return on investment (ROI). Brewing today is agro-processing and an agribusiness. And my father would be called not just a proprietor, but a business partner since family members and relatives share in the operation of the business. Possibly his title today would be general manager or CEO.

Things in my father’s time had become outdated, shifting away from traditional to modern. But it is not only a matter of terminology; it is change in business structure and system.

Big business is name of the game

Like many other village industries, the local breweries bowed out to companies that now control the production of commercial and imported brands. The proliferation of many products and the inability of local products to keep up with the growing sophisticated market have further brought their doom. Definitely under such circumstances the small players under the business parameter of economics of scale find themselves at the losing end. Bigness is name of the game.

Monopolies and cartels now control much of the economy here and in other countries. Transnational companies have grown into giants, that one big company far outweighs the economy of a small country. Total business assets of North Carolina is more than that of Argentina, which is one of the biggest countries of the world in terms of land area and population.

Today agribusiness and biotechnology are corporate terms that are difficult to translate on the village level and by small entrepreneurs.

All these fit well into the present capitalistic system that is greatly under the influence of IMF-WB on borrower-countries, and terms of trade agreements imposed by GATT-WTO on its members, many of which reluctantly signed the its ratification. Under the capitalistic system there has been a shift of countryside industries into the hands of corporations, national and transnational. Take these examples.

Coffee is raised by millions of small farmers all over the world, but it is monopolized by such giant companies like Nestle and Consolidated Foods. Cacao is likewise a small farmer’s crop, but controlled by similar multinationals. So with tea, the world’s second most popular beverage.

Unfortunately this inequity in the sharing of the benefits of these industries is exacerbated by the absence of a strong and effective mass-based program that emphasizes countryside development through livelihood and employment opportunities. Multi-national monopolies thrive on such business climate and biased laws and program in their favor.

We import rice, corn, sugar, fruits, meat and poultry, fish, fruits and vegetables in both fresh and processed products, when in the sixties and seventies we were exporters of the same products. We were then second or third in ranking after Japan in terms of economic development.

“Small business is beautiful” (photo: EC Schumacher, author)

There must be something wrong somewhere. But while we diagnose our country’s ills, we should make references to our own successes, and even come to a point of looking on models within our reach and capability to imitate. There are “unsung heroes” in practically all fields from business, agriculture, manufacturing to folk medicine and leadership. Perhaps for us who belong to the older generation, it is good to feel whenever we recall old times when life was better – and better lived.

Biopiracy and technopiracy

“The biggest piracy that is taking place today is not at sea and on the rich. It is stealing people’s resources – from herbal medicine to indigenous technology – stolen by rich countries and big corporations. Biopiracy and technopiracy constitute the greatest violation to human rights and social justice in that the people are not only deprived of their means of livelihood; they are forced to become dependent on those who robbed them.”

(Biopiracy is a situation where indigenous knowledge of nature, originating with indigenous peoples, is used by others for profit, without permission from and with little or no compensation or recognition to the indigenous people themselves.Informal or “underground” economy.  Internet)

Informal or “underground” economy is the lifeblood of rural communities. They are the seat of tradition, rituals, barter and other informal transactions. They link the farm and the kitchen and the local market. They are versions of agro-processing and agribusiness on the scale of proprietorship and family business. They strengthen family and community ties.

It is for this reason that the NACIDA – National Cottage Industry Development Authority – was organized. And truly, it brought economic prosperity to thousands of entrepreneurs and families in the fifties to sixties.

South Korea for one in the late sixties, saw our PRRM and NACIDA models and improved on them with their SAEMAUL UNDONG development program which ultimately brought tremendous progress in its war-torn countryside. In Tanzania, one can glimpse some similarities of our program with LAEDZA BATANI (Wake up, it’s time to get moving) rural development program. The Philippines stood as an international model, recognized by the WB and ADB, for our countryside development program – cottage industries, farmers’ associations, electric cooperatives, rice and corn production program, which made us agricultural exporters. So with our biotechnology in farm waste utilization through composting with the use of Trichoderma inoculation, and in natural rice farming by growing Azolla in lieu of urea and ammonium nitrate. Another area of biotechnology is in the retting of maguey fiber, which is a work of decomposing bacteria.

The Saemaul Undong, also known as the New Village Movement, Saemaul Movement or Saema'eul Movement, was a political initiative launched on April 22, 1970 by South Korean president Park Chung-hee to modernize the rural South Korean economy. The movement is being revived today as a model for developing countries such as Cambodia, 2015 (photo)


 Today there are many opportunities of biotechnology that can be tapped and packaged for small and medium size businesses and organized groups of entrepreneurs and farmers. These opportunities also pose a big challenge to the academe and to enterprising researchers in government and private institutions.

Important organisms for biotechnology

• Spirulina (blue-green alga or Eubacterium) - high protein, elixir.
• Chlorella (green alga) – vegetable, oxygen generator
• Pleurotus and Volvariella (fungi, mushroom) – anti-cancer food.
• Azolla-Anabaena (eubacterium with fern)– natural fertilizer
• Porphyra, red seaweed, high-value food (“food of the gods”)
• Hormophysa (brown alga) – antibiotics
• Eucheuma (red alga) – source of carageenan, food conditioner
• Gracillaria (brown alga) – source of agar, alginate
• Sargassum (brown alga) – fertilizer and fodder
• Saccharomyces (fungus, yeast) – fermentation
• Aspergillus (fungus) – medicine, fermentation
• Penicillium (fungus) – antibiotics

Caulerpa (green alga) – salad (photo)
• Leuconostoc (bacterium) – nata de coco, fermentation of vegetables
• Acetobacter (bacterium) – acetic acid manufacture
• Rhizobium (bacterium) – Nitrogen fixer for soil fertility
• Nostoc (BGA or Eubacterium) – bio-fertilizer
• Ganoderma (tree fungus) – food supplement, reducer
• Halobacterium and Halococcus (bacteria)- bagoong and patis making
• Lactobacillus (bacterium) lactic fermentation, yogurt making
• Candida (yeast) – source of lysine, vitamins, lipids and inveratse
• Torulopsis (yeast) – leavening of puto and banana cake
• Trichoderma (fungus) – innoculant to accelerate composting time.

Before I go proceed allow me to present a background of biotechnology in relation with the history of agriculture.

Three Green Revolutions

The First Green Revolution took place when man turned hunter to farmer, which also marked the birth of human settlement, in the Fertile Crescent, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers where the present war in Iraq is taking place.

The Second Green Revolution is characterized by the improvement of farming techniques and the expansion of agricultural frontiers, resulting in the conversion of millions of hectares of land into agriculture all over the world. This era lasted for some three hundred years, and marched with the advent of modern science and technology, which gave rise to Industrial Revolution. Its momentum however, was interrupted by two world wars.

Then in the second part of the last century, a Third Green Revolution was born. With the strides of science and technology, agricultural production tremendously increased. Economic prosperity followed specially among post-colonial nations - the Third World - which took the cudgels of self rule, earning respect in the international community, and gaining the status of Newly Industrialized Nations (NICs) one after another.

Towards the end of the last century, the age of biotechnology and genetic engineering arrived. Here the conventions of agriculture have been radically changed. For example, desirable traits are transferred through gene splicing so that trans-generic – even trans-kingdom – trait combinations are now possible. Bt Corn, a genetically modified corn that carries the caterpillar-repelling gene of a bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis, exemplifies such case. Penicillin-producing microorganisms are not only screened from among naturally existing species and strains; they are genetically engineered with super genes from other organisms known for their superior production efficiency.

Biotechnology for people and environment

The need for food and other commodities is ever increasing. Together with conventional agriculture, biotechnology will be contributing significantly to the production of food, medicine, raw materials for the industry, and in keeping a balanced ecology. This indeed will offer relief to the following scenarios:

1. World’s population increases from today’s 6 billion to 10 billion within 20 years.

2. Agricultural frontiers have virtually reached dead end.

3. Farmlands continue to shrink, giving way to settlements and industry,
while facing the onslaught of erosion and desertification

4. Pollution is getting worse in air, land and water.(photos: right, garbage clandestinely exported by Canada to the Philippines)

5. Global warming is not only a threat; it is a real issue to deal with.

These scenarios seem to revive the Apocalyptic Malthusian theory, which haunts many poor countries - and even industrialized countries where population density is high. We are faced with the problem on how to cope up with a crisis brought about by the population-technology-environment tandem that has started showing its fangs at the close of the 20th century.

Now we talk in terms of quality life, health and longevity, adequate food supply and proper nutrition - other human development indices (HDI), notwithstanding.
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As scientists open the new avenue of genetic engineering to produce genetically modified organisms for food, medicine and industry, entrepreneurs are shaping up a different kind of Green Revolution on the old country road – the employment of veritable, beneficial microorganisms to answer the basic needs of the vast majority of the world’s population.

Green Revolution for the masses

This Green Revolution has to be addressed to the masses. The thrust in biotechnology development must have a strong social objective. This must include the integration of the mass-based enterprises with research and development (R&D). Like the defunct NACIDA, a program for today should be cottage-based, not only corporate-based. Genetic engineering should be explored not for scientific reasons or for profit motives alone, but purposely for social objectives that could spur socio-economic growth on the countryside, and the improvement the lives of millions of people.

Alternative Food

These lowly organisms will be farmed like conventional crops. In fact, today mushroom growing is among the high-tech agricultural industries, from spawn culture to canning.

Spirulina, a cyanobacterium, has been grown for food since ancient times by the Aztecs in Mexico and in early civilizations in the Middle East. Its culture is being revived on estuaries and lakes, and even in small scale, in tanks and ponds. Today the product is sold as “vegetablet.”

Seaweeds, on the other hand, are being grown extensively and involving many species, from Caulerpa to Nori. Seaweed farming has caught worldwide attention in this last two decades, not only because it offers a good source of food, but also industrial products like carageenan and agar.

Environmental Rehabilitation

In the remote case that a nuclear explosion occurs, how possible is it to produce food and other needs in the bomb shelters deep underground? Fiction as it may seem, the lowly microorganisms have an important role. For one, mushrooms do not need sunlight to grow. Take it from the mushroom-growing termites. Another potential crop is Chlorella. While it produces fresh biomass as food it is also an excellent oxygen generator, oxygen being the by-product of photosynthesis. But where will Chlorella get light? Unlike higher plants, this green alga can make use of light and heat energy from an artificial source like fluorescent lamp.

Sewage treatment with the use of algae is now common in the outskirts of big cities like New York and Tokyo. From the air the open sewer is a series of reservoirs through which the sewage is treated until the spent material is released. The sludge is converted into organic fertilizer and soil conditioner, while the water is safely released into the natural environment such as a lake or river.

Marine seaweeds are known to grow in clean water. Their culture necessitates maintenance of the marine environment. Surprisingly seaweeds help in maintaining a clean environment, since they trap particles and detritus, and increase dissolved Oxygen and reduce dissolved CO2 level in water.

Bacteria being decomposers return organic substances to nature. So with algae and fungi. Fermentation is in fact, a process of converting organic materials into inorganic forms for the use of the next generation of organisms. In the process, man makes use of the intermediate products like ethyl alcohol, acetic acid, nata de coco, lactic acid, and the like.

Speaking of sustainable agriculture, take it from Nature’s biofertilizers like Nostoc and other Eubacteria. These BGAs form green matting on rice fields. Farmers in India and China gather this biomass, and use it as natural fertilizer. Another is Rhizobium, a bacterium that fixes atmospheric Nitrogen into NO3, the form of N plants directly absorb and utilize. Its fungal counterpart, Mycorrhiza, converts Nitrogen in the same way, except that this microorganism thrives in the roots of orchard and forest trees.

Let me cite the success of growing Azolla-Anabaena on ricefields in Asian countries. This is another biofertilizer, and discriminating consumers are willing to pay premium price for rice grown without chemical fertilizer - only with organic and bio-fertilizers. At one time a good friend, medical doctor and gentleman farmer, Dr. P. Parra, invited me to see his Azolla farm in Iloilo. What I saw was a model of natural farming, employing biotechnology in his integrated farm –

• Azolla for rice,
• Biogas from piggery,

• Rhizobia (photo) innoculation for peanuts and mungbeans,
• Trichoderma for composting.
• Food processing (fruit wine and vinegar)

His market for his natural farm products are people as far as Manila who are conscious of their health, and willing to pay the premium price for naturally grown food.

Genetic Engineering

It is true that man has succeeded in splicing the DNA, in like manner that he harnessed the atom through fission. Genetic engineering is a kind of accelerated and guided evolution, and while it helps man screen and develop new breeds and varieties, it has yet to offer the answer to the declining productivity of farms and agriculture, in general, particularly in developing countries. Besides, genetically engineered products have yet to earn a respectable place in the market and household.

Genetic engineering of beneficial organisms is the subject of research institutions all over the world. I had a chance to visit the Biotechnology Center in Taipei and saw various experiments conducted by Chinese scientists particularly on antibiotics production. But biotechnology has also its danger. One example is the case of the “suicide seeds”. These are hybrid seeds which carry a trigger enzyme which destroys the embryo soon after harvest so that the farmers will be forced to buy again seeds for the next cropping. It is similar to self-destruct diskettes, or implanted viruses in computers. This is how Monsanto, the inventor of suicide seeds, is creating an empire built at the expense of millions of poor farmers over the world.

Medicine and Natural Food

As resistance of pests and pathogens continue to increase and become immune to drugs, man is corollarily searching for more potent and safe kinds and formulations. He has resorted to looking into the vast medicinal potentials of these lowly organisms, as well as their value as natural food. Here are some popular examples.

1. Nori or gamet (Porphyra, a red alga) – elixir,
claimed to be more potent than Viagra (photo)

2. Edible seaweeds - rich in iodine, vegetable substitute.
There is no known poisonous seaweed.

3. Seaweeds as source of natural antibiotics, much safer than conventional antibiotics.

4. Mushrooms have anti-cancer properties.(photo: author with wild mushroom from the field)

6. Cyanobacteria prolongs life, restores youthfulness.

7. Yeast is a health food

8. Yogurt is bacteria-fermented milk, health drink.

9. Carica and Mamordica extracts for medicine and health food

10. Organically grown food (without the use of chemical pesticide and fertilizer)

Dr. Domingo Tapiador (photo), a retired UN expert on agriculture and fisheries, helped initiate the introduction of Spirulina in the country. He showed me the capsule preparation produced in Japan. “Why can’t we grow Spirulina locally?” he asked.

Today a year after, there are successful pilot projects. Spirulina is not only good as human food but feeds as well. Professor Johnny Ching of Dela Salle University found out that Spirulina added to the feed ration of bangus improves growth rate. (MS Biology, UST) Similar studies point out to the beneficial effects of Spirulina on the daily weight gain in poultry and livestock. Earlier studies also discovered Azolla, an aquatic fern with a blue-green alga symbiont – Anabaena, as a valuable feed supplement to farm animals.

These lowly groups of organisms which cannot even qualify as plants, but instead protists with which protozoa are their kin, biologically speaking that is, are after all “giants.”

They hold the promise in providing food, medicine, clean environment, and as a whole, a better quality of human life for the people today and the coming generations.~
 ---------------
* In microeconomics, economies of scale are the cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to size, output, or scale of operation, with cost per unit of output generally decreasing with increasing scale as fixed costs are spread out over more units of output.

The Magic Natural Vinegar

Health- and environment-friendly.

Dr Abe V Rotor

Vinegar is the most popular food conditioner – for seasoning, marinating, as spice, appetizer, and the like.  Outside of the kitchen vinegar has many uses, from deodorizer to weed killer, sore throat remedy to first aid to insect bite.  

The author's family enjoys Vigan empanada

 dipped in Ilocos natural vinegar

A. Cook with Natural Vinegar

. Firm up gelatin. Add a teaspoon of vinegar for every box of gelatin used to keep those molded desserts from sagging in the summer heat.

· . Boil better eggs. Add 2 tablespoons of vinegar to each quart of water before boiling eggs, keeps them from cracking.

· When boiling eggs, add a tablespoon of vinegar to the water to prevent white from leaking out of a cracked egg and also keep the yolk in the center of the egg,

· Prepare fluffier rice. Add a teaspoon of vinegar to the water when it boils.

· Sour fruits with vinegar. Try eating young tamarind with vinegar and salt, so with  santol. You may add sugar.

· When boiling meat, add a spoonful of vinegar to the water to make it more tender.

· Marinate tough meat in vinegar overnight to tenderize.

· Pickle green papaya, botolan (seeded banana). Add carrot, onion and the like.

. Pickles in natural vinegar will last longer and taste better.

. Cook fish and meat as paksiw.

· Freshen vegetables. Soak wilted vegetables in a quart of cold water and a tablespoon of vinegar.

· Debug fresh vegetables. Wash leafy greens in water with vinegar and salt. Bugs floats off.

. Use vinegar instead of lemon on fried and broiled foods. It gives a tangy flavor

B. Clean with Natural Vinegar 

· . Deodorize the kitchen drain. Pour a cup down the drain once a week. Let stand 30 minutes and then flush with cold water.

· Unclog a drain. Pour a handful of baking soda down the brain and add ½ cup of vinegar. Rinse with hot water.

· Eliminate onion odor. Rub on your fingers before and after slicing.

· Clean and disinfect cutting boards. Wipe with full strength vinegar.

· Remove fruit stains from hands. Rub with vinegar.

· Cut grease and odor on dishes. Add a tablespoon of vinegar to hot soapy water.

· Clean and deodorize jars. Rinse mayonnaise, peanut butter, and mustard jars with vinegar when empty.

· Clean a teapot. Boil a mixture of water and vinegar in the teapot. Wipe away the grime.

· Freshen a lunchbox. Soak a piece of bread in vinegar and let it sit in the lunchbox overnight.

· Clean the refrigerator. Wash with a solution of equal parts of water and vinegar.

· Scale fish more easily. Rub with vinegar 5 minutes before scaling.

· Clean the dishwasher. Run a cup of vinegar through the whole cycle once a month to reduce soap build up on the inner mechanisms and on glassware.

· Clean stainless steel. Wipe with a vinegar dampened cloth.

· Clean china and fine glassware. Add a cup of vinegar to a sink of warm water. Gently dip the glass or china in the solution and let dry.

· Get stains out of pots. Fill pot with a solution of 3 tablespoons of vinegar to a pint of  water. Boil until stain loosens and can be washed away.

· Clean the microwave. Boil a solution of ¼ cup of vinegar and 1 cup of water in the microwave. Will loosen splattered food and deodorize.

· Get rid of cooking smells. Let simmer a small pot of vinegar and water solution.

· Mix some vinegar with salt. It will clean dishes, pots, glasses, windows, brass, copper, bronze, pans. Skillets. Rinse well with warm water, 

· Remove the lime deposits. Add vinegar to warm water and soak your tea kettle overnight. This will also work on your glass coffee pot. Put three ounces of vinegar in the pot and fill rest with warm water.

· Wipe jars of preserves and canned food with vinegar to prevent mold producing bacteria.

· Clean jars with vinegar and water to remove odor.

· Prevent discoloration of peeled potatoes by adding a few drops of vinegar in water. They will keep fresh for days in the refrigerator. Try this when trimming buko (young coconut). It prevents discoloration. ~ 

Healthy and safe food and drinks you can prepare at home

In observance of World Food Day October 16, 2015
Dr Abe V Rotor
 Living with Nature School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Grace Velasco
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class Monday to Friday (www.pbs.gov.ph)

Bulanglang (diningding Ilk) is still the most popular vegetable preparation at home. It is a completre one-dish meal best for lunch and dinner.  Regional variations make the dish. Dinengdeng is a  vegetable stew which originated from the Ilocos region. The main seasoning in this dish is bagoong (a paste of fermented fish or shrimp) with onions, ginger, tomatoes  and sometimes. Broiled fish or unshelled shrimps may be added. Dinengdeng with  bagnet (lechon kawali) is a specialty in Vigan. The following vegetables are commonly used in cooking this dish: okra, young malunggay pods,  ampalaya, eggplant, squash, string beans, flowers of squash and katuray, patani, kamote (for buridibud to thicken the soup).   

 

Pinakbet (also called pakbet) is an indigenous Ilocano It is similar to dinengdeng in many respects, in that it is made from mixed vegetables steamed in fish or shrimp sauce.^] The word is the contracted form of the Ilokano word pinakebbet, meaning "shrunk" or "shriveled." Left photo shows indigenous ingredianet: patani, himbaba-o (alokong Ilk), wild ampalaya amd eggplant.

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Squash Okoy [grated squash, small shrimp or anchovies (dilis), egg and flour]
Buko is the healthiest food and drink. It is complete in nutrrients the body needs, including the well-advertised "virgin coconut oil." Buko is the safest food and drink because the coconut tree filters out toxic metals and other undesrable substances in the soil, water and air. Newly opened young nuts are most refreshing. There's no need of ice or chilling. 
Anti-cancer fruit, guyababo, is eaten directly when ripe.  Or it is made into puree with a blender.  You may preserve the puree in the refrigerator for a few days as mother stock.   There is no substitute to eating with the hand.  

These are easy-to-prepare drinks and recipes. Advantages: low cost (50%or more  savings), natural and fresh, locally available ingredients, nutritious and balanced, devoid of artificial ingredients like MSG, Aspartame, carbonate, bromate, sulfite, aflatoxin.  They have low cholesterol, low fat, free of possible pathogens, vermin and toxic substances.  Other than gustatory delight cooking and eating at home strenghtens family bonding. (Photos by AV Rotor)