Tabon Tabon Fruit
Never heard of this fruit before. Thank goodness I had my camera to record it for this blog. We were at a large sprawling home in San Mateo, Rizal last Sunday, where some relatives of my wife were having a mini and rather impromptu family reunion/lunch for 70! I knew the hosts also had large poultry farms and a vegetable farm and I was hoping I could sneak in a tour (no luck, the farms were half an hour away from their home). But when one of the guests arrived with the makings of kinilaw, I was totally intrigued when this “tabon tabon” emerged and was used in the preparation of her kinilaw. A little web surfing hours later yielded its scientific name, hydrophytune orbiculatum, but not much other information on this fruit at all. Apparently it is native to Northern Mindanao and Camiguin Island. It physically looks like an elongated chico, with a hard shell, but the pulp inside looks unusual and somewhat like a split brain. It does not appear in several of my reference books on food/produce so it must be considered relatively obscure to non-natives.
Apparently, according to Michaela Fenix, Doreen Fernandez and other blogs on the net, tabon tabon was the key to the assertion that Filipinos enjoyed kinilaw well before the Spaniards arrived (refuting the seviche/kinilaw relationship), because tabon tabon shells were found near fish bones in a cave/anthropoligical site in the south… The pulp is used to remove the “fishy” taste of fish (langsa) and may have other medicinal properties as well. All I know is, it was part of a superb tasting kinilaw, photos and recipe up next! If you are familiar with this fruit, please leave a comment if it has any other uses or plays a role in any other recipes from the South, thank you!!!
Never seen or heard of this before only from your site now that I’ve seen it. It looks creepy though must be powerful enough to subdue the fishy smell and taste of fish and other crustaceans. I would say it must be the key and secret ingredient of good kinilaw. I would say probably after the blood compact in Bohol between Sikatuna and Legaspi -the locals served their new allies kinilaw prepped with tabon tabon to celebrate the event!
January 8th, 2008The first time I heard about this “tabon-tabon” fruit is from the show Ysabella (thru tfc). According to her, it is one of the secret ingredient in making her mom’s “Kinasal na Manok”! I thought this was just some made up ingredients for the show, (sorry), but now that you featured it here, I stand corrected! If I remember it right, she split the fruit in half, and used a spoon, and sort of scrape the meat inside and used a little bit of it only, it looks like that the meat was a bit hard texture wise, is that right MM? And they also mentioned that this tabon-tabon is native to a particular province, but I can’t remember which one..
I hope that helps…
January 8th, 2008This is such a great blog site, historical food info are also available. You’re awesome MM, very informative site ever.
January 8th, 2008What a strange looking fruit–and quite frankly, looks a bit revolting as well. I am excited to learn something new about my Inang Bayan though. Is it edible in itself, and not just used as a food odor killer? Does it belong to the coconut family? In browsing the internet, I chanced upon this as being one of the thousands of endangered species in the Philippines?
January 8th, 2008Use it all the time to make kinilaw na Tuna. Scraped off the nut inside into shavings with a spoon after craking the shell in half. For me it adds tartness to the kinilaw and somewhat decreased the acidic taste of the vinegar.
January 8th, 2008You are right Dhayl, this is first introduce in the show Ysabella…which I also found out the recipe of Kinasal na Manok was really a brain child of one of contributors or editors of Food Magazine. Sorry, my memory fails me again with name. Anyway, thanks to MM, this fruit pops up again…well I think I got to return back to my library for its more information.
January 8th, 2008first time i heard and saw one too! you’re right, the inside looks like a brain but the husk reminds me of “bunot” :)
great find! thanks for sharing it with us
January 8th, 2008oh yes, tabon-tabon…this is what makes cagayan/camiguin kinilaws distinct, along with biasong (lime, the small native dayap). that’s why NorMin (Northern Mindanao) kinilaws are milky and very fragrant. strangely, davao is just 5 hours’ drive away, but you can’t find biasong anywhere, and nobody makes kinilaw that way.
January 8th, 2008Tabon tabon is a common ingredient in our kinilaw and i was surprised to know that visiting friends and relatives ( i live in cdo)are clueless what it is. Kinilaw is not the same for us without tabon2.
January 8th, 2008my family lived in misamis oriental up until i was six years old.i remember tabon tabon as a vital ingredient for making kinilaw along with biasong.it is has a fragrant smell but if i remember it right it gives a sliht mapakla taste to the food.anybody,pls. correct me if am wrong ang tagal tagal na kasi.
January 8th, 2008i was watching Tablescape the new show with Angel Aquino and Chef Bruce and they featured Camiguin and i remember the locals using the tabon-tabon in their kinilaw
January 8th, 2008Am a native of cagayan de oro, another term for biasong is “suwa”, it is similar to lime.
January 8th, 2008also tabon-tabon is believed to “disinfect” the fish.
January 8th, 2008Tabon-tabon, biasong ( the latter being the fruit of the kaffir lime )and good tuba - the three most vital ingredients to a “perfect” kinilaw…
Oh, and I remember… as a little girl, when Dad was making kinilaw and tabon-tabon was not available, he would send me out where there were coconut trees and have me bring back a “potot” or two. this, as substitute to the tabon-tabon.
January 8th, 2008ddac, interesting you should araise the very young coconut alternative, I was just speaking with a Boholano who described the same item… cool.
January 8th, 2008potot has a mapakla taste,so am i right when i said tabon tabon has the same taste?
January 8th, 2008det, yes, it has a mapakla or aphud or astringent mouthfeel, slightly bitter taste…
January 8th, 2008wow, I learned so much.
January 8th, 2008First time I’ve seen and heard about tabon tabon MM and I grew up with kinilaw eaten alot by my family because i grew up in Surigao del Sur where there’s an abundance of fresh fish thats great for kinilaw.But my uncles use kalamansi or biasong ,nipa vinegar and sometime coconut milk(gata).By the way,biasong is now cultivated in some small farms and they do pop-up at the local palengkes of Davao City and Davao del Norte sometimes sold at 5pesos for 12-15 pcs.But you can almost always find them in the taboan markets.
January 9th, 2008In the part of Bohol where I grew up , we use potot in kinilaw. Kinilaw is not the same without it.
January 9th, 2008my aunt used this fruit when she served us kinilaw in iligan city a few months back. her kinilaw was fantastic and had a little coconut milk and lime mixed in with the vinegar. it does impart a slight “mapakla” taste but that’s what made the kinilaw interesting and novel to the taste buds.
January 9th, 2008Hi Marketman! I’m glad that you’ve finally featured tabon tabon on your website. I grew up in Q.C. but have been living in Mindanao for almost 6 years now (both North and South). I was in tuna land (GSC) for 5 years, so kinilaw is a staple food I’m familiar with. My first encounter with tabon tabon was last year when we moved to Butuan City. I’ve had kinilaw from Gen San and Davao before and I didn’t know that North Mindanao had a slightly different version. For some reason, kinilaw with the use of tabon tabon had a more milky and “malinamnam” taste than one without it. Now, I always make use of tabon tabon and biasong (native lime) whenever I prepare kinilaw (so far, fresh Mol Mol or Parrotfish is the best fish kinilaw for me).
In Ysabella’s Kinasal na Manok, I think tabon tabon was used to remove the “lansa” from the chicken. Here in the CARAGA region, tabon tabon is primarily used for kinilaw and I haven’t encountered any other use for it.
January 9th, 2008Hi MM!
January 9th, 2008I am from Cagayan de Oro, and yes, I use tabon tabon as an ingredient in making kinilaw to remove the “langsa” and I contend that it does make for a superb kinilaw regardless of the fish being used.By itself, it really has no distinctive taste which can overpower the inherent taste of the fish, it is also super-”mapakla”(”super” seems to be an operative word these days) but it does ENHANCE the quality of the fish being used that’s why the kinilaw is much tastier. hehehe, know I know that tabon tabon is really a Northern Mindanao peculiarity as I have been wondering why many other knilaw are disguise by a lot of “siling labuyo”.
Help! — from anyone from Cagayan de Oro or who knows the place well enough. Which restaurant serves the best kinilaw?
January 9th, 2008Thanks MM for a ll the info about tabon tabon —and kinilaw
im from talisayan,misamis oriental and familiar with tabon-tabon.kinilaw is different without tabon-tabon.talisayan is 2hours away from cagayan de oro but we have a lot of kainan which serves kinilaw.u should try kan-anan by the sea.talisayan is the next town after balingoan.
January 9th, 2008Tabontabon is one must ingredient in kinilaw in the island province of my birth, Camiguin. Tabontabon tree is a beautiful tree, very symmetrical. With the earth-colored fruits hanging, it looks gorgeous. Can be an ornamental plant, only, it grows big. The fruit doesn’t disintegrate easily,even when opened or when the inner part is exposed. In fact,some would bury the whole fruit for future use. Nothing can beat the kinilaw from Camiguin, CDO and the nearby towns in Mis Oriental because of these ingredients: tabontabon, suwa (native lime) and lots of sili.
For good kinilaw in CDO, try Manokan restaurant, beside the Trinidad Building along Yacapin St.
January 10th, 2008Best kinilaw in Cagayan de Oro and Camiguin are made in homes. Ask around in Camiguin for someone to make it for you. Be warned, some use a lot of MSG in it.
January 11th, 2008Kitchen newbie question: What’s a ‘potot’? Is this the small, aborted baby coconuts which fell to the ground? TIA.
January 12th, 2008First time I’ve heard about tabon-tabon. How large is the fruit? Does it come from a tree or shrub? May MM you can being me a branch one time (he he).
January 12th, 2008kulasa, I haven’t seen the tree, but the fruit is medium sized, like a large chico… kantogirl, I think potot is the very young baby coconut, not necessarily the ones that have fallen…
January 12th, 2008whooa! a camiguinon here, although i haven’t been there in ages, i grew up eating kinilaw (fish straight from the sea!) with tabon tabon! i’ve never eaten another kinilaw again in my life, i don’t think it will ever be the same or that safe eating kinilaw here in the city. oh you made me miss my hometown so much and the food i grew up eating with!
January 17th, 2008is there tabon-tabon in manila? I miss eating kinilaw Cagayan de Oro style :(
June 8th, 2008yup.!! that is one of the secrets we visaya have in our KINILAW (not kilawin as so many people wrongfully call the dish). another alternative thats even better is whats known in negros as “DUNGON”. its kinda like a nut. it looks like the mantle of the portuguese man o war jellyfish. you crack the nut, take the content which looks kinda like a brasillian nut, rub it gently on the dried tail of a “page” (stingray. exotic enough yet? hehehe..) to grate it finely, a drop of water now and then helps. if you do it right, you end up with a smooth, milky substance that you add to your “tarug-ho” (bluemarlin) kinilaw. now that makes the best kinilaw you have ever tasted in your life bar non i tell ya.
August 26th, 2008oh by the way, dungon and tabon tabon are not used to remove the “lansa” of kinilaw. we use kalamansi or lime juice to remove it (aha.!! di lang pala suka ginamit hehehe).
tabon tabon and dungon imparts a “mapakla” taste thats quite unique. it makes you wanna eat more and more kinilaw.
hope you guys would have the opportunity to sample the dish. =)
I encountered the tabon-tabon first in the book by Edilberto Alegre and Doreen Fernandez about Filipino Drinking Culture. I forgot the name of the book though…
Doreen Fernandez mentions the tabon-tabon fruit again in her book “Kinilaw”.
The fruit’s flesh is very astringent, much like unripe bananas and other than using it to remove the fishy taste and smell, the fresher fruits are used to waterproof baskets. The fruits are sliced in half and the milky sap fills up the gaps in the weave.
September 26th, 2008Hi! Where in Manila can I buy tabon-tabon? Never thought kinilaw could get any better until after I tried it in CDO.
September 30th, 2008