Balut: Fertilized duck eggs and their role in filipino culture

Western Folklore, Spring 2002 by Magat, Margaret

The word "balut" may have been derived from the traditional way that it was made. "Balut" is very similar to the Tagalog word "balot," which means "wrapper" when used as a noun, or "to cover" when it is used as a verb ("balutin mo" translates to "cover it"). Balut made in the traditional way involves the eggs being covered by bags containing rice husks. The husks are heated in copper kettles until they become dry as well as extremely hot.

No matter what method is being used to make balut, the first step is to choose fertilized duck eggs that have thick, unbroken shells. In the Philippines, special men would be hired whose job consisted of selecting eggs with the thickest shell. This is no small feat as there are thousands of eggs that have to be looked at. These selected eggs must then be exposed to the sun for 3 to 5 hours to get them to "perspire" out the extra moisture before they are ready for incubation.

One common method utilized by balut-makers, called mangbabalut, involved the eggs being kept in woven bamboo incubators in the shape of barrels 3 feet high and 2 feet in width. The bamboo barrels were frequently used before the advent of artificial incubators and were designed to hold 10 bamboo trays, each of which could hold 100 to 120 eggs. One barrel could then contain 1,000 to 1,200 eggs (Maness 10). A variation on the bamboo trays was that the eggs would be placed in bags made of abaca hemp.

The eggs stay in the barrels to incubate for 18 days, and are "candled" using a candle or a lightbulb on the seventh, fourteenth and eighteenth days. A typical instrument for candling is the silawan, which is a box-like device in the shape of a triangle or a square. The Filipino balut-maker inserts the egg into a specially designed hole to hold it and by means of a light bulb inside the box, the contents of the egg can be seen. Something to watch out for while candling is a dark shape in the egg, which means an embryo has formed. If there are web-like veins, then the embryo is growing. If the light does not show anything but a whole yolk, then the egg is infertile. Sometimes, there is a crack on the egg or the embryo has died early. These are sold as penoy or made into salted eggs. In the U.S., the sale of eggs with dead embryos is prohibited.

THE IMPORTANCE OF DRINKING: PULUTAN AND INUMAN

Upon their arrival in the 16th century, the Spaniards were astonished at the abundant seafood and other staples such as taro, coconut and yams which were being eaten (Jocano 1975b:162). Deer, carabao, fowl, pigs, along with vegetables like beans, quilites and fruits like guavas and pineapples were also being consumed. However, the Moros, the Moslem tribes from the southern end of the Philippines, did not eat swine but goats, chickens, ducks and carabaos (Garcia 1979:272, 340).

Accompanying this eating were a startling array of local wines made from sugar cane, rice, coconuts, bananas and nipa palms which were often consumed in ceremonies for death and illness (Garcia 1979:262, 331). Most importantly, early Spanish chroniclers like Chirino wrote that drinking was not limited to rite-of-passage events such as weddings. The natives were known to drink with guests and while honoring deities as well. Drinking occupied such a high status with Filipinos that "they designate a feast by the term 'drinking,' and not eating" (qtd. in Garcia 1979:262).