Produced from seawater through a painstaking multi-step process that dates back to the 17th century, ‘asin tibuok’ is a rare artisanal sea salt, also called ‘dinosaur egg’ for its unique shape. It has been crafted in Alburquerque, Bohol, that it has become a piece of the municipality’s centuries of history.
In the past, asin tibuok was considered a highly valuable good that locals traded it for rice, corn, and other essentials.
But as cheaper, mass-produced table salt became widely available, demand for the artisanal salt declined. By the 1980s, only a handful of families kept the practice alive, and many feared the tradition would completely disappear.
11 families left to continue the tradition
Today, only 11 families in Alburquerque make asin tibuok, municipality’s records say, compared to over 100 families centuries ago. Thanks to their perseverance, the flame of asin tibuok did not die.
At the heart of this effort is Manong Non, one of Alburquerque’s most respected elders. Together with the few families, he carried on with the continuation of this labor-intensive craft.
In 2019, with the support of Kapunungan sa Mangasinay sa Albur (Kasama), a group dedicated to the making of asin tibuok, the tradition continues to live.
‘I have seen how asin tibuok almost faded away, but I cannot just let go of what I have been doing since I was young. This salt is our story, our heritage. My hope is that people will come to know its value, so that more families can return to this craft and find a livelihood from it. That way, asin tibuok will never be forgotten,’ Felix Pinlac Jr., popularly called Manong Non, said in the dialect.
While others turned to easier livelihoods, the few families remained by the fire, shaping pots, boiling seawater, producing salt just as their ancestors had done for generations.
Government’s support
With the association’s determination to keep their heritage alive and with the full support of Alburquerque local government, the salt makers collaborated with the Department of Science and Technology through its Bohol Provincial Science and Technology Office (DOST VII-Bohol PSTO) to improve some steps in making asin tibuok’s production safer, more efficient, and sustainable.
The craft that’s been passed down for generations is anything but easy. In their meeting with DOST Bohol Provincial Director Vina R. Antopina, the members of Kasama opened up about the challenges they encounter in producing the artisanal salt.
The process of making the salt begins by soaking, drying and burning coconut husks into ash, which is then used as filter for seawater to create a concentrated brine they call ‘tasik.’
The brine is boiled in rows of pots, with workers braving exposure from eight hours to nine hours of intense heat beside the blazing fire.
When the smoke clears, what emerges is a block of salt molded round by the pot, earning the nickname, ‘dinosaur egg,’ owing to its shape.
Making both the traditional and mechanized processes work
While some processes remained untouched to protect the heritage of the traditional salt making, interventions were introduced in other processes.
Among the traditional processes are coconut dehusking and soaking. The dehusking are still done manually using a pointed tip bar.
The husks are soaked in seawater near the mangroves for three to six months to allow the husks to fully absorb salt from seawater, enriching them with minerals.
DOST-VII Bohol supported the mechanization of its other processes, such as slicing and drying. While slicing a single husk with a traditional bolo and a mechanized slicer technically takes almost the same amount of time, the real difference is in the effort.
Manual slicing is exhausting, with the workers having to pause and catch their breath every so often, taking about 30 minutes to slice one basket of coconut husks (around 50 pieces).
With an efficient mechanized coconut husk slicer, the same task can be done continuously at a reduced time of 10 minutes, making it less tiring for the workers.
At the same time, the furnace-type hot air-drying technology with shed, provides the workers protection from extreme weather, and assures them of continuous husk drying.
To honor the heritage of traditional asin tibuok making, the current method of husk firing and brine filtering has been preserved. The husks are continuously fired until white salt-rich ashes, called ‘gasang,’ are formed.
They are then packed into a cone-shaped bamboo filter called ‘sagsag’ that is lined with palm leaves, then washed with seawater to draw out concentrated brine tasik. Boiling tasik until it hardens is the most grueling part of asin tibuok making.
Traditionally, Kasama members would stack the clay pots on plain round bars, balancing them with stones over a fragile concrete furnace. The process makes workers endure intense heat as they tirelessly tend the fire, feeding it with coconut wood until salt gradually forms inside the earthen pots.
The introduction of a high-alumina brick furnace has helped contain the fire better, reduced boiling time from 8 hours to 9 hours down to just 5hours to 6 hours, and cut the coconut wood consumption as fuel.
The innovative stainless steel guide trays are sturdier and more heat-resistant, which made pot preparation faster and easier.
Kasama member Abundio Manungas recounted how he was exposed to the heat of cooking salt since he was a young boy. He is grateful that the boiling time has been shortened through the upgraded furnace.
With the recent S and T interventions, Manungas’ son was inspired to join the association, and now assists him in the craft of asin tibuok making. Thus, he feels reassured that their heritage will continue.
The asin’s clay vessel
While asin tibuok is the heart of Bohol’s salt-making tradition, the earthenware pot is its vessel. The two are inseparable. Without the clay pots, there can be no asin tibuok-the distinctive salt is shaped when brine crystallizes inside the pot’s curved walls.
To support this tradition, Kasama has been provided with modern materials and innovations in earthenware pot making.
What was once a tedious, time-consuming task with a wooden paddle, kneading the clay is made easy through the introduction of an efficient clay kneading technology.
Molding the clay, called ‘pikpik,’ is preserved being considered the soul of pot making. Instead of leaving the pots on bare ground, wooden racks are built for a more stable and efficient air drying the freshly molded pots.
Traditionally done in open fires with wood, bamboo, and coconut fronds, or fan-shaped coconut leaves, firing often led to cracked pots and exposed workers to extreme heat.
Shifting to the use of a modern, single-chamber open-fire furnace technology, has made firing more uniform, producing consistent color, fewer cracks, stronger pots and with less environmental impact.
Alburquerque’s last master potter, Junile Paran, has generously shared his expertise with Kasama members on the proper use of the single chamber kiln.
Under Paran’s guidance, Kasama members received hands-on training covering key aspects, such as the proper piling of earthenware pots in the kiln to ensure even heat distribution throughout the preheating and full firing stages.
After eight hours of firing, the earthenware pots are left to cool slowly inside the kiln overnight, until the pots reach room temperature to ensure optimal strength and quality. Once cooled, they are carefully stored in traditional baskets called ‘bukag.’
Upside of merging tradition with innovation
By blending heritage and innovation, the Kasama has strengthened both the pot and the salt it holds. The result is more than just increased production. It is the assurance that this cultural treasure will endure, preserving both the community livelihood and ancestors’ legacy.
After some technological interventions, the association’s asin tibuok is currently able to find new markets. One is Coco Berry, a café and delicacies/souvenirs shop in Baclayon. Another is the Bohol Bee Farm, a renowned resort and restaurant in Dauis that takes pride in organic and homegrown products.
Through these partnerships, more people have come to know and taste asin tibuok, giving new light to its meaning as a treasured heritage.
DOST interventions fall under DOST-Bohol’s Community Empowerment through Science and Technology Program, which supports livelihoods, protects cultural heritage, and empowers vulnerable communities.
DOST Bohol Director Antopina was recently named the Regional Winner and National Semi-Finalist in Gawad Lingkod Bayan ng Pangulo for leading in providing S and T programs to the communities.