A whole lot of IBOS

Ilonggos call cooked pilit rice wrapped in palm leaves as ibos. It is one of the most popular native delicacies found in local markets.

Yet at times, it cause confusion as it is referred to suman in places outside the region - for suman for the Ilonggos is biko to the Tagalogs in general.

So checking out online sources yields the follwoing:

Suman sa Ibus - A ubiquitous variety of suman in the Philippines, the glutinous rice is washed, and is then mixed with salt and coconut milk. The mixture is poured over pre-made coil containers of young palm leaves called Ibus or Ibos, and fixed with the leaf's central shaft.

This is then steamed using water mixed with "luyang dilaw" (turmeric or kalawag in Ilonggo ) — giving it that distinctly yellow colour — and served either with a mixture of shredded coconut and sugar, or latik — (reduce coconut milk until white lumps form and simmer until golden brown). (Wikipedia)

The ibos comes out in varieties depending on the type of glutinous rice one uses. It could be as pure white or one dotted with red variation. But if one uses tapul variant of pilit, it could produce a black to purplish hue of an ibos.

So how does one enjoy ibos? I personally prefer eating it with muscovado sugar. It is a "complementing balance" of taste (sweet then savoury) and texture grainy and rough that makes a burst of good flavours on your tastebuds.

Sometimes sesame seeds are added for the extra crunch and flavour to the sugar. >>> RECIPE FOR IBOS

But the most popular way I guess is having it with native tsokolate tablea or ripe mangoes.

And of course, Guimaras mangoes - sweet, succulent and delicious!

And here's an ibos recipe from Chef Maridel Uygongco and she calls it YSL. Yes, it really stand for Yves Saint Laurent, with the Yves playing on ibos.

It calls for frying the ibos and serving it with fruits and cream. Check this blogpost for the whole feature on this designer ibos.

No matter how its called, how its cooked and eaten, ibos has certainly become part of gastronomy. Be it remembering it from our childhood and craving for it now since its been years, you haven't had one, certainly ibos is here to stay. Namit gid!

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