19Fermented Fish Products in the Philippines

Minerva SD. Olympia

In many parts of the world especially in Asia, fermented foods are popular and well liked by the
general populace and so widely used that the daily diet of the people would not be complete
without them. In a developing country like the Philippines, where many fermented food products
are known, their popularity is due not only to their characteristic flavor but also to the fact that
other processing methods, such as freezing and canning, are generally expensive.
Despite their popularity, research and development on fermented foods is meager. Most of the
traditional food fermentation industries especially in the Philippines are rural, seasonal, labor
intensive, informal, and capital deficient. Commonly, fermented foods are sold and consumed in
the areas where they are produced.
The methods of processing were developed in homes and improvements were based on the
observations of the practitioners. Fermentation processes are normally handed down from
generation to generation. There is little interest in knowing the role of microorganisms and the
physical and chemical changes that occur in the products. What is recognized are changes in
color, odor, and taste that result from modifications of the process or variations in the ingredients
or conditions. Most processes are conducted on a trial-and-error basis with little quality control.
Product quality primarily depends on the experience of the processor.
In the Philippines, fermented fishery products can be divided into two groups. The first group
includes those containing high concentrations of salt—about 15 to 20 percent in the final
product. This group consists of bagoong (fish paste) and patis (fish sauce). These products are
generally used as condiments.
The second group includes burong isda (fermented rice fish mixture) and burong hipon, also
known as balao balao (fermented shrimp rice mixture). These products, when fermented,
become acidic with a cheese-like aroma.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK234688/

Shellflex Food Products

Bayambang, Pangasinan, Philippines

A trip to Bayambang, Pangasinan will not be complete without a taste of its infamous buro - a mix of
fermented rice and fish. Buro-making is no a walk in the park even if it has only three ingredients:
salt, rice, and fish. It is a very delicate process that takes about three weeks. The fish used - dalag,
tilapia, or gurami - are all sourced locally. Shellflex Food Products showcases a modern day buro-
making process with the help from the Pangasinan State University. Modernizing their buro is not
just about new equipment. Shellflex learned how to make the buro less pungent while maintaining its
flavor. The secret, they said, was removing the fish head in the process. Sauteed buro is best served
as side dish of steamed vegetables and fried fish.

Address: Bongato East, Bayambang, Pangasinan, Philippines

Hours: By Appointment
Budget: None
https://explora.ph/attraction/569/shellflex-food-products

Facts about Bayambang

Bayambang is a bustling first-class municipality in the southern part of central

Pangasinan (3rd District). According to local lore, its name was derived from a plant
called colibangbang which used to thrive in the area.

The town is characterized by rolling plains with a total area of 16,800 hectares. The
town is a part of the great Central Luzon plain where the Agno River drains, making the
land very fertile and conducive to farming, thus attracting settlers from the Ilocandia and
nearby traders.

An agricultural town, Bayambang is considered the “cornbelt of Pangasinan” and the

“onion capital of Pangasinan.” It is also known for its fermented fish (buro) delicacy and
rice crackers, among other traditional products.

It is also a university town, being the location of the 37-year-old Pangasinan State
University Bayambang Campus, a sprawling campus with centuries-old acacia trees.

Founded in 1614, the town has a rich historical and cultural heritage and regularly
celebrates its being among the select towns that General Emilio Aguinaldo declared as
capital of the country during the First Philippine Republic.

BASIC INFORMATION

Date Created: April 5, 1614

Enabling Law: Proclamation No. 131 (March 24, 2011)

Total Population (NSO 2015): 118,205

Total No. of Households: 26,906

Total Number of Districts: 9

Total Number of Barangays: 77

Land Area (in hectares): 16,800 hectares

Length of Roads: 207,763 km

Time Travel to or from Manila: 2.5 to 3 hrs

Major Sources of Income: Farming (corn, onion, rice, vegetables) & Fishing
(aquaculture)

Location. Located at the central part of Southern Pangasinan along the banks of the
Agno River, Bayambang is bounded on the north by the municipality of Malasiqui, on
the south by the municipality of Camiling in the province of Tarlac, on the east by the
municipality of Bautista and on the west by the municipality of Urbiztondo.

Income Class and Economy. Bayambang’s average annual growth rate is 1.33%, and
its literacy rate is 92%. The major sources of livelihood are farming, with 12,223
hectares of arable land, and raising of freshwater catch. For 2016, the estimated total
income is P238,231,438, with P190,228,462 coming from its annual Internal Revenue
Allotment and P48,002,976 coming from local sources.

As of July 2016, Bayambang has 64 industrial establishments, 7 major business

establishments, and 12 financial institutions, and 14 accommodations (hotel, resort,
inns, restaurants).

Among the town’s famous products are fermented fish (buro) and rice crackers.

Among the town’s points of interest with tourism investment potential are the St. Vincent
Ferrer Catholic Church and Convent, town plaza, Mangabul Lake in Brgy. San Gabriel
II, Tanolong Underground Church, and Geo-Farm in Brgy. Mangayao.

Demographic Profile. The town has a population of 118,205 as of 2015, with a

projected population of 120,000 by 2016. It has 26,906 households in 2015, with an
average household size of 4.4. The population density is 8.09 person/hectare.

http://www.bayambang.gov.ph/about-us/facts-and-figures/

A new method of making burong dalag

Updated February 22, 2009 - 12:00am

1 0 googleplus0 0
MANILA, Philippines - There’s a much improved scientific way of processing and packaging burong
dalag(fermented mudfish).

The technology was developed by researchers Raquel Pambid, Wilma de Vera, Veronica Austria, Teresita
Sunga, and Rosabella Mendez of the Pangasinan State University (PSU, Bayambang campus).

Their research project, titled “Processing and Packaging Improvement of Burong Dalag”, won the top prize in
the 2009 Aquatic Technology Competition and Marketplace (ATCOM) sponsored by the Department of Science
and Technology-Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development (DOST-PCAMRD).

The PSU researchers said the practice of making buro dates to the Spanish times when, during semana
santa (Holy Week), the people abstained from eating meat. Instead, they turned to fish and vegetables.

They noted: “To enjoy their fare of fish even during semana santa they preserved fish drenched in salt and
mixed with rice and left it to ferment in earthen jars. Thus, buro was born.”

The PSU study aimed to make buro retain its delicious taste and at the same time eliminate its unfavorable
odor so that it can be marketable locally and abroad. It also wanted to help buro makers perfect the product not
only as raw material but cooked as well.

The researchers focused on salting, a critical point in making buro.

“The new formula used 24 percent rock salt to ferment dalag in 18-20 days. Beyond 20 days, bad smell
develops and some molds may start to grow,” they said.

The new technology observes the following procedures: cleaning of the fish (minus head and internal organs),
freezing of the cleansed fish, salting and soaking, draining of salted fish, stuffing of salted fish with cooked
cooled rice, fermenting, cooking, sterilizing, bottling, and labeling.

The technology has been adopted by PSU, which has established markets in some restaurants, schools, and
offices in Pangasinan. – Rudy A. Fernandez

Ingredients:

1 mudfish (medium-sized)
1 tbsp angkak
1-cup rice
2 cups water
Salt

How to cook:

1. Clean the fish and slice into pieces. Salt all the slices and allow standing for six hours or overnight.
2. Add the water to the rice and cook. Remove the rice from the pot or pan and allow cooling.
3. Pound the angkak fine and mix with rice. Mix the fish, rice, and place in a clean glass jar with a cover.
4. Let the stand for 3 to 5 days or until the mixture smells sour.
5. To cook: Sauté chopped garlic, onion, and tomatoes in two tablespoons lard.
6. Add buro and vinegar to taste and sauté well. If the mixture is rather thick, add a little water.
7. Serve hot or cold.

Note: Angkak is a yellow coloring used for this dish.

Source: http://lutuingpilipino-blogistangpulpol.blogspot.com/2008/02/everyday-specials-burong-isda-
fermented.html

http://www.magluto.com/fermented-rice-with-fish-burong-isda

https://we.riseup.net/assets/378662/ArtFermentation.pdf

health benefits

Fermented fish is a traditional dish made in several cuisines across the globe. The fish is
usually fermented to keep it from spoiling and thereby making it good for consumption. There
are various methods of fermentation employed to make fermented fish. Fermented fish can
be healthy in the following ways:
· It makes the fish edible and healthy to eat.
· Fermentation breaks down the sugar, thereby decreasing the side effects caused by
sugar.
· It possibly contains probiotic bacteria, which is good for the stomach and helps with
digestion.
http://answers.ifood.tv/question/what-are-the-health-benefits-of-fermented-fish

paper 6pdf

http://epgp.inflibnet.ac.in/epgpdata/uploads/epgp_content/food_and_nutrition/06._food_biotechnolo
gy/25._fermentation_of_fish_and_meat/et/7390_et_et.pdf

Buro is freshwater fish fermented in salt and ba-aw (ba-ao, bahaw, steamed rice). It is the foulest smelling
edible thing in all the whole wide world, but ironically, it is eaten as an appetizer.

Buro is actually a means of preserving seasonal freshwater fish from the times when electricity has not
been invented. The prized fish dalag (mudfish), which comes out of hibernation during the rainy season,
is salted and fermented with salted cooked rice to preserve the surplus. So are the native tilapia - small,
thin and black - and the rare gourami, which burrow in mud during the dry spell.

These are still the preferred fish to be fermented in a buro today, still as a means of preserving, but more
as a way of keeping on with tradition. Nowadays it has actually attained the status of a native delicacy.
The buro'n tilapia and gouramiare the more common, with the buro'n dalag - since the fish is more rare,
the flesh more tasty - commanding about Php250/kg.

I know buro is eaten in other places in the country, like burong talangka (salted fermented mud crabs) in
Bulacan, burong hipon (small shrimps fermented in rice) in Pampanga, burong mustasa (salted mustard
leaves in water) in Cavite, plus we also have burong mangga (salted unripe mangoes in water) in
Pangasinan.

In Pangasinan, though, when you speak of buro - without any qualifier - you refer to the fish fermented
with rice. The tang and fermented taste of buro is much, much more pronounced than any
other buro outside the province. It is as sour as any spoiled food if you have ventured to eat some (I
haven't, but I eat buro).

It is actually indescribable, and those who did not grow up with buro being served on the table will be
really turned off by the smell alone. When I was a kid I could not tolerate it on the table if it were placed in
front of me. But you get used to it, and once your tastebuds have desensitized a little, you will find that
because you're eating it, it will propel you to eat a lot more than what you usually do.

I find this to be the greatest irony of all.

http://bucaio.blogspot.com/2007/12/lp22-buro.html

This is a recipe of fermented mudfish with cooked rice, salt and fermented red yeast
rice called “angkak”. A native Filipino delicacy from Pangasinan and Pampangga provinces.
If you are wondering what is “angkak”, then it is what make the burong dalag looks more
attractive by giving it a red pinkish color and will give the buro a distinctive taste.

“Angkak” is a bright reddish purple fermented rice, which acquires its colour from being
cultivated with the mold Monascus purpureus. This is usually used in Chinese and
Japanese cuisines which is available in Asian stores. Since this ingredient is not easily
found and available in local wet markets, you can substitute it with food coloring since the
main purpose of this red rice is for coloring dishes, just like achuete or annatto seeds.

Fish "Buro" is originally made in barangay Bongato. This fermented rice delicacy
is made of steamed rice, salt and freshwater fish (either carp, catfish, eel, gurami
or "dalag"). Rice Crackers are made in barangay Sangcagulis. This is now
becoming a popular merienda among the loca
We continue our series on Philippine parks and plazas this week by heading south from San Carlos,
Pangasinan, which was our last week’s stop. We enter another large town, Bayambang, which is home to
close to 120,000 souls. At the center of this settlement, which dates from the 1500s, is a plaza of regular
geometry but with some quirky contents.

Bayambang is an old town and is the province’s southernmost municipality. It is the gateway to
neighboring Tarlac. It takes its name from a tree that use to cover most of the town’s idyllic landscape.

Bayambang’s political and social history is tied to the bigger town of San Carlos, as well as connections
to settlements and people across the border to Tarlac. The town was a temporary revolutionary provincial
and national capital used by a fleeing General Emilio Aguinaldo. It’s fortunes aligned with others in the
area during the American and Commonwealth eras. Post-Philippine independence, it continued a fairly
un-eventual path to its present state.

Bayambang recently celebrated the 400th anniversary of its founding in April 1614. To mark this, the town
went for and was successful in becoming the new holder of the Guinness World Record for the longest
barbecue grill. Bayambang folk grilled eight kilometers of tilapia to defeat the previous record holder in
Turkey.

Aside from this modern record the town can boast about, Bayambang is known for two interesting
examples of heritage, the Binasuan and Buro. The first is an acrobatic folk dance involving balancing and
twirling glasses lit with candles inside, with these wrapped in handkerchiefs. The second is a type of
strong smelling fish sauce that’s an acquired taste.

I prefer dancing the Binasuan, which I learned and performed as a member of the UP Filipiñana Folkloric
Group. We performed this and a wide repertoire of other distinctive Philippine songs and dances all over
Europe in the late 1970s. That was where I first experienced the western plazas and architecture that
influenced our own.

Bayambang is still primarily agricultural, but its residential areas are growing. The town center or
commercial district covers about 10 hectares of its total of about 12,000 hectares. Bayambang’s
commercial district revolves around a plaza of about 1.5 hectares in area. The plaza’s rectangular
geometry has a long side parallel to the Agno River.

It was common for plazas to be located near a river because markets had to be close to what was the
primary means of transport then — the water. The location also allowed the church’s façade and bell
tower to be landmarks that greeted travellers.

http://www.philstar.com/modern-living/2017/01/14/1662398/binasuan-buro-and-bayambang

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 FERMENTED FOODS | Traditional Fish
Fermentation Technology and Recent
Developments
Chapter · December 2014 with 105 Reads
DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-384730-0.00117-8
In book: Encyclopedia of Food Microbiology, pp.852-869
Cite this publication

Editors

Toshiaki Ohshima

o 37.42
o Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology


Anupam Giri

o 23.62
o SABIC, Bergen op Zoom, Netherlands

Abstract
Fermentation is one of the oldest food-processing techniques. It provides a way to preserve food products, enhance
nutritive value, destroy undesirable factors, improve the appearance and taste of food, reduce the energy required for
cooking, and make a safer product. Fermented fish products are important traditional foods in many countries of the
world, particularly in Asia. An attempt has been made here to elucidate the important features of different fermented
products, including nutritional aspects, health benefits, safety concerns, and recent developments. This revealed an
important feature of fermented products, in-process fortification with different essential amino acids, vitamins, and
bioactive peptides. It has been also revealed that fermented foods are safe to consume because of their probiotic
effect against microorganisms, and they play an important role in reducing the risk of cancer and other degenerative
diseases. This article also highlights important Asian fermented fish products and production techniques, including
new concepts in production from other regions.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288178338_FERMENTED_FOODS_Traditional_Fish_Ferment
ation_Technology_and_Recent_Developments