Does anyone remember those Surf ads that became popular a decade ago? I was in high school then, and remember how people (including myself) waited for advertisements of a local laundry soap brand instead of the prime time telenovelas of the same time slot. These commercials were about a young wife's inexpensive solutions to household problems. The advertisements petered out into actual drama though and I soon lost interest. The need to become a "wais na misis" or a clever homemaker never disappeared though.
We decided the dream didn't have to end there though, in fact the coming of the kid could be an excuse to bring the dream to life in small manageable ways. Baby steps so to speak. The kind we burgis brats can deal with.
One of the things we realized we needed to get over was the idea of grocery stores.
At first it was hard to wrap one's head around. No more aisles and aisles of colorful products. No more people watching at the produce section. No more imported fruits.
But the more I read about the alternatives, the more I came to appreciate the granola way. No shampoo? Use vinegar. No bleach? Use vinegar. No detergent? Use vinegar. No souring agent? Use vinegar. No more decision fatigue!!!
What's even cooler is that you can make it from coconuts. We have coconuts. We have tons of coconuts. We have so much of them that there are probably more coconut concussion related deaths here than car accidents.
| Serial killer |
It helps that maternal lola's big on coconuts. She and a bunch of former Cocofed scholars got together and created an NGO called Kabukonet that teaches people in the country how to make export-quality products out of the nuts. Let's give them a round of applause for their efforts in reducing coconut-related deaths empowering the rural poor. :)
Instead of making vinegar though, I decided to try my hand at making Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) because it tickled my subversive bones to not pay for expensive baby products. You can use VCO to treat cradle cap, diaper rash and croup; you can use it instead of mineral (petroleum based) baby oils and lotions; you can even use it in baby food (like breastmilk, VCO is high in lauric acid). Edumicate yourself cretin!
I asked mom how to make some and she told me to go ask google. I'm not rural poor enough for my mom's time apparently. Anyway, I found this tutorial.
We had a couple of nuts lying around, which our househelp's husband was more than happy to break open for me.
He asked me what I was planning to do with the nuts. When I told him, he got horrified that pregnant girl was going to do manual labor herself. I ended up being relegated to inutil quest giver while he took on the adventure himself.
The tutorial seemed a bit inaccurate though. For example, the coconut shell in one photo looks like it was mechanically scraped off in the market instead of at home, but posed with a spoon for the sake of white people who have no access to mechanical coconut graters. We had a manually operated one and no food processor, so we decided to take liberties.
So like the tutorial said, I left the jar for at least 24 hours. If you're like me, and have low self restraint, you'll want to keep looking at the jar every minute to see if the oil really is separating. In times like these, it helps to distract yourself.
The jar was left all alone for about 40 hours when I finally remembered where I put it. I thought the oil must have separated by now, but when I checked on it, I found this:
NOT EVEN HALF?!?!
The clear stuff is supposed to be the oil, while the white stuff is supposed to be useless curd.
Hmmm...
Well, the white stuff WAS rising over the first few hours the last time I checked, so I'm guessing it's going to continue to rise with more time. I'll leave it for a day or more and see if anything changes. If it doesn't, I guess I'll at least have a little oil from all the effort (this is worth 4 nuts, all meat).
Will this experiment prove to be an epic fail or a win for subversive DIYing? Stay tuned!
P.S. I realize none of the photos I've posted show the gentleman who took on my quest. This is Kuya Dodong's 15 minutes of fame:
P.P.S. The continuation to this epic saga is up!
Instead of making vinegar though, I decided to try my hand at making Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) because it tickled my subversive bones to not pay for expensive baby products. You can use VCO to treat cradle cap, diaper rash and croup; you can use it instead of mineral (petroleum based) baby oils and lotions; you can even use it in baby food (like breastmilk, VCO is high in lauric acid). Edumicate yourself cretin!
I asked mom how to make some and she told me to go ask google. I'm not rural poor enough for my mom's time apparently. Anyway, I found this tutorial.
We had a couple of nuts lying around, which our househelp's husband was more than happy to break open for me.
He asked me what I was planning to do with the nuts. When I told him, he got horrified that pregnant girl was going to do manual labor herself. I ended up being relegated to inutil quest giver while he took on the adventure himself.
The tutorial seemed a bit inaccurate though. For example, the coconut shell in one photo looks like it was mechanically scraped off in the market instead of at home, but posed with a spoon for the sake of white people who have no access to mechanical coconut graters. We had a manually operated one and no food processor, so we decided to take liberties.
STEP 1: Break the nuts and scrape the meat off of them
STEP 2: Shoo the coconut-stealing chicken
 |
| the house help threatened to stew the thieving fowl in coconut milk. It's a local delicacy we Visayans call hinatukan. |
STEP 3: Using a thin cloth, squeeze the meat's juice into a clear jar.
STEP 3: Leave the jar for at least 24 hours
So like the tutorial said, I left the jar for at least 24 hours. If you're like me, and have low self restraint, you'll want to keep looking at the jar every minute to see if the oil really is separating. In times like these, it helps to distract yourself.
STEP 5: Forget about the jar
The jar was left all alone for about 40 hours when I finally remembered where I put it. I thought the oil must have separated by now, but when I checked on it, I found this:
NOT EVEN HALF?!?!
The clear stuff is supposed to be the oil, while the white stuff is supposed to be useless curd.
Hmmm...
Well, the white stuff WAS rising over the first few hours the last time I checked, so I'm guessing it's going to continue to rise with more time. I'll leave it for a day or more and see if anything changes. If it doesn't, I guess I'll at least have a little oil from all the effort (this is worth 4 nuts, all meat).
Will this experiment prove to be an epic fail or a win for subversive DIYing? Stay tuned!
P.S. I realize none of the photos I've posted show the gentleman who took on my quest. This is Kuya Dodong's 15 minutes of fame:
 |
| and a tip: you get more juice out of the pulp if you mash it up before straining. It also helps if you have big guns like Kuya Dodong. |
P.P.S. The continuation to this epic saga is up!
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