Add Salt to Taste

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BY WAY OF STOMACH

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,

品尝另一番滋味
乔安妮 维拉纽瓦 著
我提着装满调味品的袋子,从北部旅
行归来,心想为何我从未出外探索更
多新事物,甚至疑惑于我是怎样试图
将穿过的衣服和消耗一半的食物塞满
我归程的行李箱。

[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.

班诗兰省500公顷的太平洋盐场(盐的
产地)是一群热情工人的家。盐场的
领头人是一个既有趣又古怪的男人,
平时喜欢穿背带衬衫和裤子。他的名
字叫Johnny Khonghun,是盐场的主人,
萨利纳斯食品公司的首席执行官,健
康部认可的菲德尔碘盐的大庄家。
我们穿越一座被称为“爱之桥”的古
老木桥,在桥的另一端,农民们曾因
农场所有权的转变而恐惧愤怒,也曾
试图阻止过Khonghun,但这种紧张的情

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).

况被一只诞生于桥中央的山羊缓解了。
农场是对游客开放的,参观者们可以
从盐床上获得一点盐,也可以亲眼见
证盐从进入机器到变成水晶般晶莹剔
透的过程,此外,还可乘坐农场的自
家火车舒适地参观整个盐场。
随身携带一粒盐会感到很“舒适”。毕
竟,这是一个能够蒸发海水的地方。
轨道非常整洁,火车司机高效率的工
作着,但我们会看到有汗水掉下来,
因为温度会高达70到75摄氏度,足以煮
熟一颗鸡蛋!这正是他们所做的,将
腌制的咸鸭蛋沉入湖中,生成高能量
蛋。截止到目前,这些鸡蛋只提供给
特殊的客人。
不必担心,您在旅途中绝不会错过任
何一款纪念品,Aro-EnGourmet盐产品
线正面向市场,推出泻盐,熏制盐和
胡椒盐供选择。
旅程在一场演讲中落下帷幕,接下来
就是一场盛宴。种类繁多的AroEn盐摆
满全桌,当我们谈论最喜欢的食物和
盐类的搭配时,我们忘记了我们已经
吃到半饱。
在您下一次去北方的旅途中,扔掉不
必要的垃圾,为鱼酱和Aro-En盐留出
空间,并在归家的路途中延长您的美
食之旅。
WWW.PHILIPPINEAIRLINES.COM 35

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