From being a “Poor man’s drink”, who would have thought that Lambanog would be able to flight in the local and international market?
In a matter of decades, this locally-made vodka became famous. It was recognized and garnered citation. It was even projected to overtake other liquor brands in years to come.
Lambanog industry in the Philippines has an impact on coconut products, considered to be a gigantic agricultural export and source of livelihood and income.
However, it miserably fails to perform no thanks to alleged poisonings that happened in the past three years. From the year 2018 up until today, lambanog is negatively portrayed in the media as“killer” liquor. The good old days of lambanog makers had eventually disappeared and could not be expected to bounce back.
“Arak ng masa”- Coconut Vodka
This century-old and traditional coconut-based industry in the Philippines was mainly concentrated in the Southern Tagalog area or the Region IV-A. There is no precise date on when Lambanog making began. But it started to be known in the 1990s.
Lambanog is affordable compared with other commercial liquors. The Philippine Coconut Authority ranges its price from Php. 37.00- 120 pesos, with an average price of Php. 63.49 for other liter.
Since the industry flourished, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) made a milestone through its partnership with the biggest lambanog manufacturers to standardize the distillation process and improve the quality of the product. This move showed success; increases its popularity and exposure and later on exported in some Asian countries like Taiwan and Cambodia.
Traditional
From the sap of unopened coconut flower, an amazing pure lambanog can be warmly tasted.
The 61-year-old, Alejandro Cometa of Liliw, Laguna was collecting “tuba” or coconut sap when we arrived. From the small-size coconut tree, his age did not hinder him from climbing tall trees to squeeze liters of coconut sap.
After three hours of hanging and transferring from one coconut tree to another, he climbed down the tree and cooks the sap using a traditional lambanog distillation owned by AMA Farm. Alejandro is paid on a daily basis depending on the liters of lambanog the farm will sell.
According to him, it will take at least a whole day to cook the two drums of coconut sap before it will all turn to a pure lambanog. In such tagalog terms he tried telling us the cooking process; from the pouring-out of the coconut sap to the distillation, evaporation and up to condensation where in the pure lambanog can be collected.
Unfortunate poisoning
Manufacturer and seller from the Province of Quezon were blamed in the poisoning incident of at least eight people way back in 2018. It was then followed by the deaths of 11 people in the province of Laguna by the same cause in 2019.
And just last year of 2020, another 23 people who died in the Quezon and Laguna provinces and have given a loud bearing of real lambanog poisoning due to the confirmation of the Department of Health (DOH) Regional Director of Calabarzon.
Initial investigation presumes that the lambanog consumed by the victims was a mixture of methanol and not from coconut fermentation and distillation process. Methanol, says the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), could be fatal if 30 ml of it is ingested. It could also have a toxic effect when absorbed by the skin or inhaled.
This horrible incident did slash at least 80 percent of Quezon’s projected income in the last holiday season.
Uno Stacko Effect
Alejandro Cometa was doing the job for four long decades and it never crossed his mind that one day, he would hear negative feedback about lambanog.
The town of Liliw has no recorded incident of alleged poisoning, yet the news was generalized and led to the closing of some small manufacturers. It affected daily wage earners like Alejandro.
“Niluluto din namin, iniipon naman sa bahay, at bawal nga daw magbenta, wala pating nabili.”
[We are still cooking the tuba, but we just stock it at home because we are not allowed to sell lambanog and no one wanted to buy.”]
Since 1908, Liliw, Laguna has been producing Lambanog from coconut. The Tourism office has been accurately sure of it as the 70 percent of their land is agricultural. The same with other manufacturers in the country, it was only in the 1990’s when they grew this tradition into business.
Though Liliw makers have never been guilty of lambanog poisoning, they are not exempted to undergo testing from the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA). Otherwise, it is impossible to secure permits from the local government.
From the many backyard and large lambanog makers, it was now diminished to 23, these remaining manufacturers in the town of Liliw could afford the FDA testing, yet worries on their sale as the issue of poisoning still surrounds.
Making it pure
Engr. Max Macasero, a Chemical Engineer, vividly explained to us how a Lambanog could possibly become poisonous even without intentionally putting a poisonous substance.
Macasero highlighted that the sap which has been fermented naturally contains “Alcohol. Its main ingredient is “Ethanol” and the side ingredient is called “Methanol”. When the fermented product undergoes distillation it produces vapour when reaching the boiling point.
Because the methanol has a lower boiling point as compared to ethanol, it will be the first to boil. Therefore the first vapour that will transform into droplets will be the methanol. This is needed to be removed to prevent it from mixing with the pure lambanog.
In times of Covid
The spread of CoronaVirus Disease (Covid-19) last year affected the supply of disinfectant alcohol. With this, some see possibilities. Local government officials collaborated with academe with a strong belief that this crisis in the lambanog industry and health could complement.
In search and trials, lambanog with 40 percent ethyl alcohol was converted to 85-89 percent and with the use of dilution; it becomes a 70 percent ethyl alcohol which is technically a great disinfectant.
Watch how Lambanog is made in this video:
