FLAVOURS OF ILOILO

People unfamiliar with these would often mistakenly refer to tambis as makopa  - for its shape and color are almost identical. That's until you you see it up close and bite into its flesh. Tambis has a smoother skin, tends to be more translucent and a lot juicier. On the other hand,  mangkopa  ( makopa ) has a more velvety skin, more opaque and is drier. Both come from the same  genus  -  syzygium  and just differs on the  specie  -  aqueum ,  samarangense  or  malaccense . I really cannot point out which is which though... It was one rainy Saturday afternoon while having a meeting at Camiña Balay nga Bato in Arevalo that I curiously gazed outside the window. It was a tambi s tree teeming with its fruits - lots of it. And before I knew, we were served this basket of tambis which appreciatively devoured... It brought a lot of memories then - of afternoons climbing our neighbours tambis tree, of having ...

A few posts ago, I featured the tambis that I grew up with - the pink variety . Now here's the green variant which at first makes you think its unripe and not ready to eat. But one bite off the fruit reveals a succulent-fleshy fruit that goes well with a pinch of salt. This is the kind of tambis which cannot be mistaken as makopa as there is no makopa that of this color. Now do you miss tambis ?

A cousin of makopa , this yellow green variety is among the only two varieties I have tried. The other one being pink. Compared with makopa, tambis is much juicier and on average, much smaller. Often dipped in salt, this fleshy fruit can be addicting. At least it has fiber and (some) nutrients.

Another lutong macau post of mine. Their store may not be as special as their buko pie, but Nang Palang's in Oton is worth the trip esp their buko pie and its variants, buko pinya and buko pandan. Never mind their bingka even though how enticing it looks. A bunch of green tambis. Frozen pancit molo filling. We always make a big batch and whatever is left makes it into lumpia or just fried like a patty. David's Tea House Express' asado sio pao. For a chinese restaurant, they do not fare well in making sio pao just like Kusina Tsina. A lollipop cookie from Cakestop is often my last resort pasalubong to my 5 year old nephew. Locally called "pitik-pitik" this crustacean is a new found good order at Breakthrough Restaurant. It almost tastes like fish. c/o www.exploreiloilo.com