We know that fermentation has been around for many centuries with roots tracing back to 10,000 BCE. In the Philippines, it has been a vital part of our food culture long before colonization reshaped our food systems. Relying on microorganisms and their enzymes to transform the carbohydrates, proteins, and fats in food, our ancestors fermented rice, fruits, vegetables, and sap into alcoholic beverages, souring agents, and preserved dishes suited to our tropical climate and seasons.
“Food fermentation is very much present in our food culture,” says Chef Lao Castillo, one of the founders of Gulay Na, a group that champions Filipino food heritage, food security and plant-based eating. From the rice wines, the vinegars, steamed rice cakes, and burong kanin created throughout the country, fermentation practices of different regions vary in ingredients and technique, but share a common goal: to enhance flavor, extend shelf life, and nourish communities.
At its core, abundance and adaptation deeply root fermentation in the Philippines. “Yung pagbuburo naka-anchor yan sa weather,” Castillo explains. “In Pampanga, for example, kapag panahon na ng tag-ulan, usually post-harvest time, maraming bigas, at mataas ang tubig, lumalabas na ang mga isda, ang mga talangka.” This abundance gives us different types of burong kanin—fermented rice with fish or Asian shore crabs. These traditions rely on natural microflora of the produce being fermented and the surroundings and are typically passed down as community knowledge—home-based, seasonally driven, and uniquely regional.
These days, despite being overshadowed by mass-produced convenience foods, traditional fermentation in the Philippines continue to experience a revival because of the interest in food heritage both from the culinary community and the general public. (We talk more about it with Chef Lao in an interview we’ll post here.) We advocate it at Starter Sisters, and Castillo and small-scale producers bring renewed attention to it as well—not just as sustainable food systems, but as ways to reconnect with our heritage and improve nutrition.
In this list below, we spotlight a range of different fermentation practices of plant-based ferments from different regions—what ingredients they use, how they’re made, and how they’re typically enjoyed. (You can find also find a helpful list in this paper, “Lactic Acid Bacteria in Philippine Traditional Fermented Foods”)
Fermenting in brine
One of the easiest ways to start fermenting is using brine (2-3% salt by weight of the water, so for every 100 grams of water, you add 2-3 grams of salt) and rely on lactic acid fermentation to do its work. Lactic acid bacteria in food preserves and enhances flavor while controlling spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms.
Ingredients Mustard greens, salt, rice washing or hugas bigas
Found in Central Luzon, particularly Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija
Typically eaten as Side dish
Starter Sisters Burong Mustasa dishes: Ginisang Burong Mustasa and Tokwa, Wheat Noodles with Fermented Mustard Greens, Pritong Lumpiang Gulay, Fried Rice
BURONG MANGGA
Found throughout the Philippines
Ingredients Unripe or green mango, water, salt
Some provinces, like Ilocos, make burong mangga but with vinegar, which makes use of a pickling technique in order to preserve the fruit. (Also read: Pickles vs Ferments)
Typically eaten as Side dish
Fermenting rice
If there’s one crop we ferment a lot in the Philippines, it’s rice. Castillo observes that “our rice abundance” inspires many ferments, from wine to steamed rice cakes.” With its carbohydrate content (hello, starch and sugar), the grain proves itself suitable for fermentation.
PUTO
Found throughout the Philippines
Many regions have their own version of steamed rice cakes, from puto bigas to bibingka. Unfortunately, commercially made puto in recent decades have relied more on leavening agents instead of fermentation to make for a quicker process and a sweeter flavor.
Ingredients Fermented rice dough (galapong), sugar (some can also have coconut milk)
Typically eaten as Snack or a side dish to savory dishes like dinuguan
TAPUY (or tapuey, or tapey)
Found in Luzon (Cordillera region)
Ingredients Rice (can also be cassava), glutinous rice + starter culture called bubod
Typically taken as a drink, can also be used in stews and soups, or for marinades and glazes. In the Cordillera, people usually serve it during special occasions like weddings or fiestas.
PANGASI (or gasi)
Found in Visayas and Mindanao
Ingredients Rice (but they can also be made from other native grains like adlai or Job’s Tears and tubers like cassava) + starter culture. In Panay Island, it’s fermented with sugarcane juice. When the Spaniards came, pangasi started being made with cassava.
Typically taken as a drink
Fermenting cassava
While the people in the Philippines ferment rice to make a variety of food and drinks, they also commonly use abundant tubers such as cassava. Like rice, they cook, ferment, and eat cassava as a snack or taken as a drink.
TAPAI
Found in Mindanao
The fermented cassava wrapped in banana leaves is a Maranao delicacy. It’s known in neighboring Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia as tape singkong and cassava tapai, respectively.
Ingredients Cassava, starter culture (called ragi, which contains a type of yeast and mold, and lactic acid bacteria)
After the cassava is washed, peeled, and cooked, the starter culture is added once it has cooled down. It can be transferred into containers lined with clean banana leaves or wrapped and layered in baskets. It can be ready within 2 to 4 days. (How to make it here)
Typically eaten as a snack as is, or can be used as an ingredient or topping in desserts. In Mindanao, it’s mixed with coconut milk, evaporated milk, shaved ice, and enjoyed as a cold dessert.
Fermenting coconut
The Philippines is the world’s second largest producer of coconut, so it’s no surprise that most regions in the country have coconut-based dishes—laing in Bicol, binignit in the Visayas, Nilotlot na Manok sa Gata from the Bagobo-Tagabawa people in the Davao region, to name a few. The coconut palm tree also hasn’t escaped fermenting practices, with pre-colonial communities already fermenting its sap to make alcoholic beverages.
TUBA
Found in Visayas and Mindanao
It’s called bahal after it’s been fermented and distilled for a few months; after it’s been distilled for a year, it’s called bahalina.
Ingredients Coconut sap; sometimes a starter is added but there are producers who allow for spontaneous fermentation
(In Leyte, barok or the reddish bark of the mangrove tree is mixed with the sap.)
Typically taken as a drink (with 2-4% ABV or alcohol by volume, but fermented longer as bahalina, it can reach 10-14% ABV)
LAMBANOG
Found in Southern Tagalog region (Quezon, Laguna, and Batangas, which are all known for their abundance of coconut trees)
Ingredients Pure coconut sap (thus, it makes for an “almost colorless or milky white liquid”)
Typically taken as a drink (with 40-45% ABV)
PINAKURAT VINEGAR
Found in Mindanao, originated in Iligan City
Ingredients Coconut sap, spices, and aromatics
Typically used as condiment
LANDANG
Found in the Visayas
Ingredients The hard core of the buli palm is chopped into pieces, dried, and pounded to have flour consistency. It’s mixed and soaked in water for about eight hours, which initiates the fermentation process and breaks down its carbohydrates. The landang is supposed to achieve a lumpy, chewy texture, like sago.
Typically used as an ingredient in making binignit, a coconut-milk based stew similar to Luzon’s ginataang bilo bilo. The sweet dish contains landang, sweet potato, and sababananas. It’s traditionally eaten during the Lenten season.
Fermenting sugarcane
Sugarcane is another important crop of the Philippines, largely grown in the Visayas region and Central Luzon. Not only do we get different varieties of sugar from it, but once its juice is fermented, we get vinegar, the country’s “principal condiment,” as food writer and scholar Doreen Fernandez calls it.
SUKA (cane vinegar)
Found throughout the Philippines
With our tropical climate, sugarcane juice only needs a little nudge to get it fermenting. Cane vinegar (sukang maasim) is light and mild, its tartness not overwhelming. The other popular cane vinegar is sukang Iloko (from Ilocos region).
Ingredient Juice from sugarcane that’s almost a year old since planting (best used for sukang maasim and sukang Iloko); according to Lokalpedia, the best sukang Iloko is derived from basi, a sugarcane-based Ilocano wine. It’s fermented longer compared to distilled white vinegar, hence it gains a darker color
Typically used as a condiment, but also a staple in many popular Filipino dishes such as adobo, kilawin, and paksiw. It’s also used to pickle different fruits and vegetables such as mabolo, santol, lasona, etc.; also used as folk medicine.
BASI
Found in Luzon (primarily in Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, and La Union)
Ingredient Sugarcane juice
It undergoes two stages of fermentation. The initial fermentation lasts for around 7 days, wherein the natural yeasts present begin fermenting, turning the sugar into alcohol. After the initial fermentation, the liquid is strained and sealed again inside the tapayan or earthen jar for several weeks to months.
Typically taken as a drink, but also used in community rituals and gatherings like weddings and funerals