The farm is open to public tours, where
visitors get to harvest a bit of salt from the
salt bed, watch soiled salt enter machines
and come out crystal clear, and tour
around stations while comfortably sitting
on the farm’s own train.
Add Salt to Taste
Take “comfortably” with a grain of salt;
after all, this is a place to evaporate
seawater. The rails and roads are no doubt
neat and the drivers are definitely efficient,
but you can expect a few sweat to drop
as the salt lake temperature reaches 70 to
75 degrees Celsius—that’s enough heat
to boil an egg! It’s exactly what they did:
Every October, duck eggs take a saltwater
bath for days, resulting to the Mighty
Energy Egg, which, due to its patient
brining, is not your typical sodiumpacked, assault-to-the-senses salted eggs.
Khonghun stated that only a limited
amount of eggs is produced every year at
the moment, given to special guests and
divided among the salt farm community
during their annual celebration.
Enhance your palate on a trip to Pangasinan, the
land of the salt. By JOANNE VILLANUEVA
Photos by MARTIN SAN DIEGO
C
ARRYING BAGS FULL
OF CONDIMENTS ON
MY SHOULDERS, I came back
from a trip up north, wondering
why I never went out to explore
as much, but even more, how I
managed to stuff all the clothes
I used and all the food I halfconsumed back into my luggage.
Traveling with a unique bunch, I
went on a five and a half day-long
food crawl that was disguised
as a media familiarization tour,
occasionally interrupted by
hikes, naps inside the Victory
Bus Liner, publishing insider
stories, and jokes that I don’t
want my mother know I get.
Like a typical tourist, I bought
the town’s best buys. While
there were your conventional
souvenirs like shirts and shell
wind chimes, what
made the store
different from
other souvenir
places I have visited
is its abundance
of condiments,
showing the town’s
pride in their
cuisine. Surely, the
La Union Honey
and the Sukang
Iloko (a variant of vinegar from
Ilocos) are worth a visit. And
when you want the tastiest
bagoong (fermented fish sauce/
paste), it’s best to get it from
Lingayen, Pangasinan, as the
salinity in the air is believed
to make the bagoong more
aromatic.
The 500-hectare Pacific
Salt Farm found in the
province of Pangasinan
(which aptly translates
to “where salt is made”)
is home to a community
of welcoming workers,
whose shirts read,
“love, unity, faith,
tiaga (perseverance),
effort, loyalty, honesty,
support, humility,
sincerity, discipline,
cooperation,”—the
values outlined by the
salt farm community.
Standing out from the
white shirt-clad team is a
fun, eccentric man who
likes adding suspenders
to his usual shirt and
pants garb. His name
is Johnny Khonghun,
No worries, you won’t miss out on a
keepsake should you pay a visit. The
Aro-En Gourmet Salt line is up for the
market. Some of the choices are Bitter
Salt, great to pair with coffee; Smoked
Salt, packed with the flavors of bacon,
[G]et introduced to
the single mineral
able to transform
eating from an act of
sustenance into an
act of pleasure: salt.
When we’ve tried the greatest
recipes, it was time to get
introduced to the single mineral
able to transform eating from an
act of sustenance into an act of
pleasure: salt.
34 MABUHAY MAGAZINE | JUNE 2016
farm owner and CEO of Salinas
Foods, Inc.—the makers of
FIDEL Iodized Salt, endorsed
by the Department of Health.
Before entering the farm, we
crossed the historic “love bridge”.
At one of its ends, farmers,
fearful and indignant at the
turning of the farm ownership,
had once tried to stop Khonghun
when he entered the area as
the new company owner. The
tension was released when a goat
gave birth in the middle of the
bridge, and the people saw this as
symbolic to a new slate turned.
我如同每一位典型的游客,专门选购
镇上最划算的商品。那里有售卖传统
的衬衫和贝壳风铃,然而有别于其他
我曾到过的纪念品店之处是其充裕的
调味品,它展示着这个小镇引以为傲
的美食文化。
当我们尝试过那些伟大的食谱后,是
时候来介绍一种可以让食物化腐朽为
神奇,从单纯饱腹充饥转化为灵魂愉
悦享受的单矿物质——盐。
Clockwise: 15 metric tons of salt are harvested every
year in Pacific Salt Farm in Pangasinan. Johnny
Khonghun’s shirt reads, “The gift of God: The sun,
the sea, the soil, the sweat, and the salt.” This train on
wooden tracks takes the guests through the salt farm’s
stations. Visitors can experience how it is to be salt
farmers, from harvesting to taking a trip to the refinery.
A salt farmer paddles around with his makeshift boat.
Pinaupong Manok sa Asin (Filipino-style roast chicken
cooked over a bed of salt) and Mighty Energy Eggs,
which are said to cure skin illnesses.
campfire, and cedar; and the bittersweet
Shio, great for pineapples and Japanese
beef fillets.
The tour ended with speeches from
the employees, followed by a shared
sumptuous feast of local dishes cooked
à la Pangasinan. On highlight were the
Pinaupong Manok sa Asin (Filipino-style
roast chicken cooked over a bed of salt)
and Binungay (rice cake in bamboo). Aro
En Salt varieties were passed around the
table, and as we talked about our favorite
food-and-salt pairing, we forgot that our
mouths were half-full.
On your next trek up north, leave the
unnecessary junk, make space for bagoong
or Aro-En Salt, and extend your culinary
trip, even after taking the way home. n
Know more at pfi-ecotour.com.
This trip is an account from the NLEX
Lakbay Norte 5, made possible through
North Luzon Expressway, Manila
North Tollways Corp. (MNTC), North
Philippines Visitors Bureau (NPVB),
Victory Liner, Petron, Department of
Tourism Region 1, Pangasinan Provincial
Government, Pangasinan Visitors Bureau
(PVB), and La Union Convention and
Visitors Bureau (LUCVB).