00:00 At 8 in the morning, Perlita's shop is already in her spot here in Bakara Highway in Ilocos Norte.
00:10 It's a bit scary at first sight, especially since the lid of the container is cold.
00:17 But Perlita's shop is not drinking, but feeding.
00:23 I will never come back here. It's really delicious.
00:29 This is called Inartem or Sinukaan.
00:33 This is our version of Ilocano of "Binuro sa Suka".
00:37 Perlita makes different kinds of fruits.
00:41 But the most popular one is the Inartem Balayang, a kind of banana that grows in their town.
00:50 We are here at the banana farm. I will get a balayang for Inartem.
00:56 It's not like the bananas we are used to.
00:59 It has a lot of seeds, that's why they call it "wild banana".
01:04 This is the banana I'm looking for. It's not ripe yet, and it's cheap.
01:11 It's sliced thinly along with the skin.
01:23 It's so that it's delicious and crispy. Sometimes, I cut my hand.
01:28 There's no need to be too careful when making Inartem Balayang.
01:33 The skin sticks to your hand.
01:36 Perlita washed it and soaked it in water for three days.
01:47 I change the water every day.
01:52 Then, she heated up the Ilocano vinegar.
01:56 Then, she added sugar.
01:59 After adding the vinegar, we soak it for three days.
02:07 After three days, it's ready.
02:09 After almost a week, Perlita's Inartem Balayang is ready to be sold.
02:15 It's P25 per glass.
02:19 It has a little pungency and has an intense flavor.
02:22 It's crispy.
02:23 Aside from the banana with a lot of seeds, the skin is also there.
02:27 It's hard to tell apart the ingredients.
02:30 It's sour and delicious. It's my first time eating it.
02:32 It's delicious to eat with soap. I know what it tastes like.
02:35 You can taste the sourness of the Ilocos.
02:37 It's good to eat with rice.
02:39 Perlita's income is from her medicine for maintenance.
02:46 I have diabetes, high blood cholesterol.
02:50 In the line of stalls in Cabugaw, Ilocos Sur,
02:56 you are the one who is confused and confused
02:59 because of the many lines of Inartem.
03:03 But in the competition, aren't they competing?
03:09 If the customer is competing,
03:13 if one of the stalls is not there, I'll get it there.
03:16 So that my customers will buy from me.
03:19 At least that way, it will be sold.
03:21 As long as the Inartem in Sigay's stall is confident in its Inartem,
03:27 it will fight for its flavor.
03:30 Its Inartem Karmay or Karamay in English,
03:35 Gooseberry Fruit.
03:37 It looks like a small tomato.
03:40 It's sweet and the taste is like a sour candy.
03:45 The supply of Karamay or Karmay in Sigay is fresh.
03:50 It's from their farm.
03:52 Our Karamay is ripe in the summer.
03:55 It's cheaper than the harvest.
03:56 You just have to pick it up.
03:57 You don't have to order from others.
03:59 In harvesting Karamay or Karamay,
04:02 This is the bud that we will tie
04:05 when we pick the fruit of Karamay.
04:07 Kumot Sigay tied it first,
04:10 while her husband, Joy,
04:12 is the one who will pick the fruit.
04:14 We will remove the stem and leaves one by one.
04:23 Then we will transfer it here.
04:26 The ones harvested by the couple are directly soaked in vinegar.
04:33 It's also good if you use Iloco vinegar for Inartem.
04:37 If it's white vinegar, it's too sour.
04:39 It's like the Karamay will be cooked.
04:40 If it's Iloco vinegar, it will be controlled.
04:42 Gay learned this technique from her husband.
04:46 This is their place before.
04:48 When they stopped selling,
04:50 we, the couple, followed and sold.
04:54 The next day, Gay replaced the vinegar.
04:58 It can be sold now.
05:01 From 30 to 150 pesos,
05:04 depending on the size of the container,
05:07 it's more delicious if you dip it in salt.
05:10 It's sour, and Iloco vinegar makes it more delicious.
05:14 The sourness is like raw mango and Kamias.
05:17 It's like a crispy apple.
05:19 It's like a green apple.
05:20 It's sour, like Kamias with seeds.
05:25 You know, it's good for fish.
05:30 In the past, their life was hard as a couple.
05:33 It's really hard, sir.
05:35 Imagine, sir, that we don't have food sometimes.
05:43 So we decided to sell.
05:48 Now, they're slowly tasting the sweetness of their hard work.
05:54 If I'm strong, I can earn 5,000 pesos.
05:57 I can also raise a pet, five goats, and we also have pigs.
06:02 I'm learning from my children, sir.
06:05 The sourness of my life has changed.
06:14 But if there's an institution in the field of inartem,
06:22 it's none other than the 70-year-old Nana Mada
06:26 who has been doing this for five decades.
06:29 I started selling in 1979.
06:33 I was the first to make butchina.
06:37 Her specialty is inartem butchina, or the fruit of Manila palm.
06:43 It tastes sweet, sour, and chewy, like a snack.
06:52 Nana Mada's inartem is made from fruits
06:56 that she gets from more than 50 butchina trees in her backyard.
07:02 We can see the fruits in our house.
07:06 There's no tree trunk.
07:08 But now that it's hot, the fruits are scarce.
07:11 We don't have any fruit trees, so someone delivered.
07:15 I'll pick one.
07:17 [music]
07:22 Nana Mada pokes the fruits with a wooden stick.
07:26 You have to be careful.
07:28 If you poke it, the fruit will break.
07:31 Sometimes, my hand gets poked.
07:33 Now it's poked.
07:37 I'll wash it with water to remove the skin.
07:41 Now, we'll peel it one by one.
07:45 [music]
07:50 The flesh of the butchina is soaked in salt to remove the bitterness.
07:56 The flesh is soaked in water for three days.
08:08 It's like a fish.
08:10 It's soaked in Iloco vinegar, seasoned with sugar, for three more days.
08:17 Nana Mada sells her inartem butchina for Php 100 to Php 500 per container.
08:25 The sweetness and sourness are balanced.
08:28 The taste is just right.
08:30 The product is soft.
08:31 It's like coconut milk.
08:33 It's really soft.
08:34 It's delicious.
08:38 You'll mostly taste the vinegar, but once you bite it, it's sweet.
08:42 It's soft.
08:43 It's delicious, but it's sour.
08:45 Because of inartem, Nana Mada's two children and her two daughters studied in London.
08:56 I've been to London twice, but I like it here.
09:00 I like selling inartem here.
09:04 Before the coming of the Spaniards, the land of Ilocos at that time was very dry.
09:09 They had to find a way to preserve the life of their livestock.
09:15 One way to preserve them is through this inartem.
09:19 This was started by their mother.
09:21 Then, chances are, it was passed on to their children.
09:25 To all the northeasterners out there, don't just use inartem. Try our inartem, Imas.
09:37 Thank you so much, Kapuso.
09:43 If you liked this video, subscribe to GMA Public Affairs' YouTube channel.
09:50 Don't forget to hit the bell button for our latest updates.
09:55 [Music]
Comments