TUBA – THE FILIPINO WINE By ELFRANK T. KADUSALE

W hen the famous explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his men arrived in one of more than 7,100 islands in the Philippines, in March 17, 1521, the feast set before them by the natives included earthen jugs filled with ‘tuba’.   Tuba or coconut toddy is mentioned by chroniclers in the first half of the century along with the “Indian nut”.  It has a stinging sweet and bittersweet taste.

Writers during the Middle Ages referred the coconut as “the tree of life, which bear 12 manner of fruits, yieldeth her fruit every month”.   Every inch of this versatile plant, from the tip of its roots to the tip of its crown can be used.

Tuba is made through a process of extracting the sap of an unopened coconut bud.  It has a stinging sweet and bittersweet taste. The tip of the bud is lopped and the pale juice allowed to trickle into bamboo containers.  A sturdy tree yields about a gallon of liquid daily.

From coconut water, comes a syrup concentrate for tuba.  Tuba is a sweet, fresh or mildly fermented sap taken from tapping the young expanded flowers of the coconut.

In certain barrios of Malolos, Bulacan, tuberculosis patients are advised to drink or even bathe in tuba as a cure.

Nursing babies in Bantayan, Cebu is fed with this beverage.  Tuba when distilled produces a 96 proof lambanog. 

It is said that only tough men can withstand the effect of Tuba that affects men’s senses and sanity.  Filipinos consider Tuba as a type of hard drink.

To ferment, the sweetish liquid is stored for one to three days in earthen jars or bottles in modern times.  The rust tint of tuba is acquired through the addition of powdered bark called tangal.

Crystal-clear lambanog is distilled from tuba.  About 15-gallon tins of raw coconut juice makes a quarter of a gallon of lambanog, making it more expensive than tuba.  Lambanog is a local moonshine, as it is surreptitiously distilled in hidden stills, a process to make it more of prized possession as a vintage wine.

Tuba, extracted from a coconut tree has been popularly called the “Lazy’s man crop” which are very abundant in the Philippines, a tropical country. 

Drink anyone?