Exotica

We made a quick excursion into the Ormoc public market on our way to the beach last Maundy Thursday. I was hoping to get some crabs but the ones on display were puny and not particularly meaty. I opted for shrimps and lapu-lapu (grouper). While the vendor cleaned the fish, I checked out the opposite counter, where a small mound of what looked like dark-green tomatoes caught my eye. They turned out to be batwan.

Aha! Finally, after repeatedly asking about batwan at our local market and being met with blank stares, I finally laid eyes on this elusive fruit. (“But it’s supposed to be indigenous to Bohol and Leyte!“ I say. “Eh,” my suki replied, “I have lived here all my life and don’t know what that is. Is there anything else you want that I don’t have?”) Although batwan (Garcinia binucao) has been successfully propagated, most notably at the Cojuangco-owned ECJ Farms in Negros, the ones you find at local markets are likely to have been collected from the wild, like the ones I bought (not cheap at ₱2.50 apiece). Asked about their culinary use(s), the stall owner confessed that she had never cooked with batwan herself. “They’re sour.”

I could have told her that, but we were in a hurry. Batwan’s culinary usage seems to be largely confined to Negrense cuisine (its leaves are also used to flavor roasted chicken and pork). You may not know what mangosteen looks/tastes like, but at least everyone knows of it. Whatever attention its lesser known relative enjoys today (they’re said to be cousins) is arguably attributable to the Internet, specifically a smattering of food enthusiasts showcasing batwan out of nostalgia or curiosity — with the former fueling the latter in others not so (or at all) familiar with it.

Anyway, I was too lazy to look up how to properly use batwan in sinigang and decided to do it tamarind-style, so apologies to my Ilonggo readers (or reader — that would be you, Lee) if I got it wrong. I boiled a kilo’s worth in about a liter of water. Surprisingly, it took only 15 minutes to soften them up. They were quite firm, see, so I had expected an extended boil. A potato masher helped them along, although I had to add more water to the pan on account of the pureé being too thick for the strainer. I ended up using 3/4 cup of the strained pureé for 750 grams of pork belly in 4 cups of water for mildly sour soup.

So how differently does batwan flavor sinigang? Here I must confess to a lack of sophistication. Frankly, I am just as content using a sachet of Knorr or Maggi instant mix to do the job. Does that surprise you? I will even go as far as to say that prepared sinigang mix gives a more “rounded” flavor, but that’s what it’s designed to achieve, no?

In any case, I have this severe bout of rhinitis and everything tastes dull at the moment. Not that it hindered me from enjoying my sinigang. With the help of a few ripe bird’s-eye chilies, it cleared my nasal passageways for a blessed spell — or should I say “expel?” Ironically, such reaction is referred to as “gustatory rhinitis” (or “watery rhinorrhea,” no pun intended). I bet my suki doesn’t know that — and she’s likely to have it, it’s that common.