Roselle and Naomi in the chrorus of "Bituin Sa Langit"

My niece Roselle and Naomi had roles in a church play. This is the black light scene where the kids were singing "Bituin Sa Langit." Si Naomi yung malikot ang kamay. And yes, the scene is dark because they used black light. hehehe

--andoy
28 December 2007

Kasoy

There are now a lot of street vendors who ride the buses selling various snacks and I've often wondered about them.  Normally, the items would be cheap ones and easy to sell, like peanuts, quail eggs, bottled water, boiled banana native sweets or candies.  Even chicharon bulaklak in some areas.  But there've been a lot of vendors lately who've been selling a relatively expensive item, the shelled cashew nut. 

 

The cashew nut the bus vendors sell has been shelled and roasted and sold for either 10 or 20 pesos per small container, either a shot glass or a small water glass.  I doubt if you can have 5 whole nuts in the shot glass, or even 10 nuts in the larger container.  Even considering that the nuts sold are not even whole anymore. 

 

This is not sour graping, because I really miss snacking on kasoy.  Not the commercially packaged items, but roasted in the shell, with dark burns, whole or not, strong aroma, type of kasoy.  And usually with my fingers dark from soot and with some acid burns from splitting the cashew shell.  In our province, and until now whenever we get the chance, we roast the kasuy in the shell, using a can with holes in the bottom.  While roasting the shell catches fire and the acid inside the shell burns with a pungent odor.  The acid practically explodes while burning.  The roasting aims to burn off the acid, and to cook the nut flesh.  And when all the kasoy are burning, we tip the can, let out the contents, and put out the fire with loose earth.  If done correctly, the flesh is a nice golden brown color, otherwise, it looks singed or plain burned.  Most of the time the shells are crisply burned to the flesh.  And the fingers as well.

 

The difference in taste is due to the processing.  The commercially available kasoy is split first before roasting.  The shell contains an acid which usually seeps into the kasuy nut's flesh. This results in the slight acidic taste (closest I can describe it is "tanning") and slightly soft flesh of the kasoy, with less of an aroma.  To me, it smells uncooked.  The kasoy we roast, toast or burn in the shell, has a strong aroma, crunchy flesh and strong flavor.  Definitely not finger-licking good, but eating the crumbs still gives you a sense of achievement.

--andoy

27 December 2007