Back then, she used to produce corms of up to 3 kgs. each. Today a 2-kg. corm is already exceptional. Anyway, we have our local gabi dish. They use dried leaves, the stem and the corm in the dish. They also add anchovies and dilis and it is very yummy.

We have another variety here. The reddish one is called diket or malagkit as it is lot stickier than the chinese variety. Commercial production is very limited as demand is very low.

The gabi featured in the last picture is called galyang in our place. The leaves and stems of the plant are used as pig fodder in our place. The galyang sucker is what is typically used in sinigang but the chinese variety is better as the corm makes the soup thick.

There is also another variety called buyon. The buyon is similar to the galyang but it is a lot smaller and more expensive.

I wish to have a gabi farm somewhere in the fertile lands of Nueva Ecija or Pampanga as returns are good.

ALSO, interesting side note: when visiting Fiji I had something nearly identical to the the pinangat in Bicol! In the Cook Islands, my host cooked laing for me!! Exactly the same recipe minus the chilis. But instead of drying the leaves to get rid of the itchiness, they just boil the hell out of it before cooking the leaves in coconut milk. But it’s basically still the same recipe. I was amazed by all the cultural and culinary connections I saw in these faraway islands….