Mabolo / Kamagong
Mabolo or Kamagong is indigenous to the Philippine archipelago. 
So local, in fact, that it doesn’t really have an English name, though some literature has referred to it as a “velvet apple” or in India, as a “peach bloom.” Mabolo (Diospyros blancoi A. DC.) is a member of the Edenaceae family and thrives in low and medium level rain forests in the Philippines. Today it is often planted by roadsides for their shade or as an ornamental plant in some gardens. It is a handsome tree with lush foliage. The fruit has a stunning red velvety feel or fuzz that is brilliant to look at; however, it does come with a pungent aroma that many might find off-putting. I had never eaten or come close to a Mabolo before so when I spotted dozens of brilliant red fruit at a Batangas roadside stand last week I thought I should buy some and learn more about this fruit.
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Lentils (Lens culinaris) are an ancient legume and evidence of it has been found in pre-historic sites in Egypt and Europe. Today they are primarily grown in Asia, especially in India, where “dahl,” a dish of stewed lentils is frequently eaten (actually dahl refers to several kinds of split legumes). There are many sizes of lentils throughout the world and the spectrum of colors is also impressive. I love the deep orange and yellow Indian lentils but my favorite are the small Verte du Puy (green Puy) lentils from France. For everyday cooking, the medium sized brown lentils available in most large groceries does fine. Nutritionally, they are excellent and next only to Soya beans in protein content at 25%, according to Alan Davidson in his Oxford Companion to Food.
If I knew I only had 24 hours left on this planet, I would definitely consume some of this Spanish ham. Some friends of ours recently returned from Spain and brought us several packages of pre-sliced Jamon Iberico. My wife and I have consumed nearly all of it ourselves. We didn’t share one ounce with anyone else and we don’t feel badly about this… Jamon Iberico is a Spanish ham made from a native strain of Iberian pigs known for their black trotters. They are related to wild boar, I suppose. Raised in special pens in the Southern and Western parts of Spain, each pig is allowed to roam in a large corralled area for up to two years to fatten, develop their muscles and build up flavor.
Gone are the days when you have to ingest totally dead (overcooked) and possibly creamed spinach in Popeye style in order to build up your muscles. Spinach (Spinacia oleracea) originated in Persia (Iran today) and was cultivated as early as the 4th century. Its English name is derived from the old Persian aspanakh, according to Alan Davidson in the Oxford Food Companion. The three most common ways that I like spinach are in a wilted or fresh spinach salad, in a middle eastern vegetable side dish that is actually rather sweet and cold (forgot what that’s called) and in ravioli with some ricotta cheese. I found this wonderful pile of fresh baby spinach at the grocery so I decided to make a salad for lunch yesterday.
I don’t like to buy just a portion of a fruit (actually it is called a syncarp) because I am worried about freshness, hygiene, etc. So I look for small ripe langka instead. Even the modest sized specimens yield a ton of fruit so you have to be prepared to use it in many different ways. To preserve fruit at its peak for future use, I just remove the seeds, place the fruit in a large sterilized jam or preserves jar and pour boiling hot sugar water (2 parts sugar for every part water) into the jar until the fruit is fully covered. Allow this to cool and then refrigerate. It should last several weeks and after soaking for a few days it has a nice fresh texture to it, sweet and flavorful. Others stew the langka in the sugar water to soften it but I like the freshness of uncooked langka more.
memorable house in Cebu city. I describe it as memorable because few kids who spent a night there (let alone a summer) could forget it. Indoors were extensive collections of burial site antiques, old wooden furniture, a grandfather clock that would chime hourly, and appliances from the 1950’s. It was the only place I have ever stayed where three or four antique four poster beds were put side by side and kids could jump from bed to bed all enclosed in the most massive mosquito net ever made… Beyond the voluminous mosquito nets were hundreds of old santos, relics, burial jars, staring right at us. Add on resident geckos (tuko) that have that distinctive call or yelp… and you can imagine what kind of ghost stories were whispered in the dark before falling asleep! Outdoors were several prized fighting cocks and in the yard large langka trees that seemed to bear the most gigantic fruit.
I noted an alarming rise in water levels on the terrace outside our living room. The ground was saturated from rains over the weekend and water on the lawn was building up rapidly. Suddenly, the entire household was on “flash flood alert” and everyone manned different garden drains to ensure that leaves and grass cuttings weren’t blocking water drains out into the sewers. You know things are bad when drains on the street are bubbling water OUT inside of sucking it in. Thank heavens the rains ceased after 10 more minutes or we would have taken out the emergency rafts. I wouldn’t know what to save first, the family dog or my low-lying cookbooks and food magazines! So what do you think was bubbling away on the stove inside? Ginataan or Benignit (Cebuano) – how ideal is that? I couldn’t have scripted that any better…
It’s not just an opinion. Apparently scientists/researchers have proven that the smell of freshly baked bread triggers all kinds of good feelings…ergo the commercial application of strategically positioning bread ovens near the entrances and exits of groceries and supermarkets or in malls… I have fond memories of pan de sal (salted bread) throughout my life. As a kid, pan de sal with butter. Pan de sal with cheese and butter, with butter and jam, with peanut butter and jelly, with quesong puti (carabao’s milk cheese), with corned beef, with spam, with ham, with vienna sausage, with tuna salad, with cheese pimiento, with chorizo out of its skins, etc. I can remember the look and feel of the different pan de sals at home (delivered hot every morning), at elementary school and definitely during high school. It is also one of the first 10 things I learned how to bake as a teenager. My sister taught me her recipe which I have not made myself in decades and it was fascinating to see the dough rise and turn into something so incredibly good. Now if only I could find that recipe…