By Wilfred Pilo
KUCHING, Feb 24: Many Sarawakians are familiar with the taste of nipah palm sugar or ‘gula apong’, but much fewer have heard of nipah palm salt or ‘garam apong’, much less have had a taste of it.
If you have not tasted nipah palm salt before, now you have the chance. ‘Garam apong’ is one of the many local products promoted and sold at participating booths under Cultural Heritage & Art Society Sarawak at Citrawarna Keluarga Malaysia 2022 held at the Kuching Waterfront from Feb 24-27.
Tanoti marketing and e-commerce manager, A-Fen Goh, explains that the nipah palm salt the company offers is traditionally produced.
Tanoti emphasises on indigenous Sarawak foods prepared using ancestral techniques as its mission is to preserve forgotten heritage Sarawak foods as well as to promote an appreciation for slow-food over commercialised processed items.
For ‘garam apong’, Tanoti also wants to continue to financially support existing nipah salt makers in rural areas of Sarawak so they can continue making a livelihood;
“This is a new product that our company is producing, and we hope it can take off as a product that has a place on every grocery and supermarket shelf,” Goh said when met at their booth here today.
She also revealed Tanoti is looking into conducting more research into the salt’s mineral content.
‘Garam apong’ is tedious to make as several time-consuming and labour-intensive steps are needed to produce a block of salt.
Goh explained that nipah salt is an extraction from the nipah palm, Nypa fruticans.
“Nipah palms inhabit brackish water and absorb the saline water constantly; hence, they are ideal hosts from which to harvest high quality salt.”
Nipah palm stems and trunks are harvested and dried under the sun for several days.
“The dried nipah stems and trunks are burned and their ashes are carefully collected.
“These ashes are then placed into sago-frond containers filled with saltwater and brought to a boil over 10 to 12 hours.
“As the liquid evaporates, the salt solidifies and forms cakes which are left to cool. These blocks are then wrapped and ready for sale,” Goh explained.
Apart from the unique nipah salt, Tanoti also offers a wide range of local Sarawak products like ‘gula apong’ granules, ‘gula apong’ nectar, Dayak ginger juice, ‘limau kasturi’ juice, lemon body scrub and coconut oil.
These products are part of the kaleidoscope of culture, colour, sound, taste, and smell at the Citrawarna Keluarga Malaysia 2022 event which is also expected to boost activities along the Kuching Waterfront after a long pause due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the next few days, visitors can explore the event and the Kuching Waterfront as well as enjoy a lineup of activities planned by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture to experience local culture and heritage. — DayakDaily
