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- Title:
- Drunk on Nipa Sap
- Description:
- Pigafetta is the first to record a Philippine word for wine. In 1521 he wrote that the Cebuano word for vino (wine) was TUBA NIO NIPA. Tuba wine was made from distilling the juice of nipa, the only palm growing in water. The sap flowed from a cut made in a flower stalk (where the globular fruit would grow) conveniently located near the ground. A bamboo pitcher was hung on a joint till it filled with about 2 litres of sap that would ferment into intoxicating wine. Everyone drank too much almost everyday and slept so well that work was put off by Spanish and natives alike. Nipa, pronounced with slight differences, is the local term for “Nipa fruticans” in Indonesia, Malaysia, Antique, Cebu, Leyte, Panay, Samar, Camarines, Albay, Sorsogon, Pampanga, Pangasinan. In other parts of the Philippines it is called sasa or lasa. Into the 1920s nipa was considered a most important plant from an economic standpoint. It was not only still popular as an alcoholic drink but as vinegar. Nipa has feathery leaves stretching 7 meters high and sprouts from a root growing in soil under the waterline. The palm grew in dense clusters hard to penetrate and thus served as a defensive barrier when invaders rowed upstream. In Pangil Bay, Mindanao there was a 9,000 hectare area where nipa grew! North of Manila Bay, mangrove trees were replaced by nipa. Today, nipa forests need replanting. But are the rivers and streams healthy enough for them to survive?
- Subjects:
- Nipa Tuba Nio Nipa Tuba wine
- Exhibition:
- Magellan Menu
- Type:
- Image;Still Image
- Format:
- image/jpeg
Source
- Preferred Citation:
- "Drunk on Nipa Sap", Philippine Food History, Felice P. Sta. Maria
- Reference Link:
- felicepstamaria.net/items/coll043.html