They say you only need three good things for good food: fire, fat and salt. But many people dismiss salt or asin as an ordinary ingredient, something we routinely and mindlessly put on food, even before tasting its natural flavors. But salt is a lot more complex than just these white grains you use for eating green mango, pomelo or even apples (I did this when I was little). I met a salt crusader and advocate in the person of Dr. Kathleen Apilado, who told me about artisanal salts found around the Philippines. Apparently, our cultural communities, mostly those who live by the sea, always had a salt-making tradition using different methods like sand, coconut husks and, for some, salt beds that look like rice fields from afar.

Juan, C. U. (2024, August 17). Salt of the earth. The Philippine Star, p. 8.