What are the Plants/Fruits that produce “Tuba”

“Tuba” that is used as a raw material for making lambanog and vinegar (through fermentation) can come from various sources. It could be from coconut, sugarcane or from “sasa” – specie of palm tree that grows on muddy river sides or swamps in the Philippines [I don’t know if this kind of plant can also be found in other countries].

The picture below is a fruit of “sasa” called “tigol”. To collect the “tuba” from this fruit, the stem of the fruit is literally hit hard (maximum of 10 punches is enough), but not very hard to shatter the fruit. This is done at most twice a day for almost one month until the stem of the fruit is ready to be cut and to extract the juice – “tuba”, that will flow through it. The amount of tuba that can be extracted from this fruit varies depending on the health and condition of the “sasa” tree. But it can range from half a liter to 3 liters. “Tuba” is collected daily.

Filed in Infanta, Quezon, Society and Culture
Local date: February, 2012