Antidesima bunius
A few years ago, isip trees (bignay, Antidesima bunius) were plentiful on the riverbank near our house. After Mt. Pinatubo’s eruption, only a handful remain. Today, a lone tree stands but is always laden with fruits in the summer.
The fruit which was taken for granted seems to have found a following with products such as bignay wine and jam being newly marketed to the high-end clientele.
This is how the Department of Agriculture defines it:
Indigenous to Southeast Asia. A small, attractive dark green, dioecious tree attaining a height of 10 m. Fruits are small, 8-10 mm long, dark red or purple when ripe, juicy and subacid containing a single flat seed. The fruits make an excellent wine and can also be made into jam and jelly.
In Pampanga, as far as I know, nobody processes isip into the abovementioned products. It is better known for its medicinal properties and as a souring agent for sigang. The leaves, twigs and bark are boiled and taken as a tisane to relieve hypertension, among others.
But a simple no fuss recipe to eat isip fruits is simply with salted shrimp paste! Mash the ripe fruits with the hands and remove the seeds. Season with baguc (bagoong) and that’s it. This is very similar to the camias recipe I posted sometime back.
You know, ever since I learned that most berries here in Maine, USA are tart and made into jams/jellies, I have been wondering whether our ubiquitous aratiles could be made into such things as well? This post reminds me of aratiles, and there was also a very tart red berry tree growing by our house in QC that my father introduced to me and asked me to eat with salt. It was so sour but I liked it nonetheless! I can’t remember what it was called, though. maybe if you can find more such berries as these growing wildly but taken for granted in PI, you may want to feature them. As soon as I get the chance to visit PI, I will bring some pectin with me and make jams and jellies.
Oo nga Manang! The aratiles (we call it saresa) are just growing wild! It would be a pain to pick them from the trees though. On the other hand, we used to do that when we were children and make some ‘saresa ice cream’ hehehe!
I have a marmalade recipe bookmarked somewhere and it says pectin can be extracted from citrus. I am not yet in the mood and kitchen lab time on my hands but I do intend to find out if it works with our citrus species! :tea:
Aratiles or saresa can be made into jam or jelly. I do not know if the juice can be extracted and drank as is but definitely it can be fermented into wine.
I do not know why Filipinos who go to the US or Canada refer to the country of their origin as PI as if it were still a US colony. Quite a shame. This country is simply called the Philippines. Officially, it is called the Republic of the Philippines.
Manang said she will bring pectin with herwhen she comes back to the Philippines. No need! A lot of fruits here are rich in pectin. You can even extract pectin from the seeds of calamansi which you get after pressing out the juice to make a favorite Filipino sauce or drink. You can also use the juice you press out of grated green papaya when making pickled papaya; otherwise, just let the grated papaya stand for a while on a plastic strainer (not metal!) to allow some of the juice to drip.
waaahh . . ang layo ng aratiles sa bignay! haller! T.T
This must be the fruit tree called “inyam” here in our dialect (Cebuano- Davao).
It turns black when its fully ripe and this is when it will taste sweet. The red color is just its “manibalang” phase. It is still sour. And by the way, pectin can be found in bayaas. That gives it its sticky texture when it’s made into jam/jelly. 
*bayabas i mean.
Tibo,
Thanks for the nationalistic lecture. I use PI to refer to the Philippines the shortest way (shorter than Pinas yet more “respectful” sounding.)
I tried to click on your handle hoping it would lead me to a site which would provide a more detailed explanation of how to extract pectin from their natural fruit sources, or how to use them in making jellies or jam, or to look for recipes showing exactly how to make jams and jellies out of our own fruits without using pectin, which I am sure we can and will probably rely on the ratio of the fruit to sugar (I have seen my ex-MIL make guava jelly without using pectin because guava is naturally rich in pectin). However, your handle was not helpful at all…no such links. So, while I know a lot of your “lecture” on this very condescending comment rings truth, thanks but NO THANKS. The reason why I started my food blog was to try to teach others on HOW to make such things as jellies and jams (the way I have learned to make them), not TO PREACH without practising what I preach. Since I learned how to make homemade jams and jellies, I have realized that the Philippines has lots of potential in the Republic of the Philippines (o, Tibo, masaya ka na???) in terms of food processing and preservation. The problem is, whoever knows it in our country tends to keep the recipes and how-to’s to themselves. Kaya the mainstream Filipino community (hindi Pinoys ha) are ignorant on such things. It would have been a good business to propel our country to self-sufficiency, kaso this type of business does not seem to be encouraged. Too bad, because we could have exported a lot of exotic jams and jellies to other countries, especially those with 4 seasons (like where I am now) where fresh fruits are not always available.
Karen, pasensya na…pinagigil ako ni Tibo. Kung me email ka nya, feel free to send my comment…