Batwan

BATWAN NG AKLAN. After lunching with culinary icon Margarita Forés at her flagship restaurant Grace Park in Rockwell, she gifted us with BATWAN jam. Since that lunch we have supplied Margarita with hundreds of kilos of Batwan. Andie mentioned the name Aljun, this is Aljun hanging from the Batwan trees of Ibajay, Aklan. What a huge contrast is it not from where the Batwan begins and where the Batwan ends. The thread that connects them is Rural Rising.

Back read the story:
IBAJAY IWAGAYWAY. Proudly waving the flag for Ibajay, Aklan. This is a rare one indeed. We are ourselves surprised that we could get this in some bulk. The trees are rare (perhaps endangered), and the place is far. We are talking about BATWAN, the wild tree and sour fruit that makes an already good sinigang and paksiw taste truly great. For Illongos, batwan is the star ingredient for a classic dish called KBL, short for kadyos (pigeon peas), baboy (pork) and langka (green jackfruit). Bottles of salted batwan at the center of the table is a popular appetizer, so we heard. Not to be confused with the Ilocano KBL (Kamatis, Bagoong at Lasona).