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CANDELARIA, Quezon—The liquor from the coconut juice,
popularly known among the local drinkers as lambanog,
is now targeting the market of Metro Manila and abroad.
In 1969
the simple business of Adoracion and Vicente de Ocampo
had started in the poblacion of Candelaria as a simple
enterprise selling umbrellas.
Aling
Dory, now 74, born and bred in the small town of San
Juan, Batangas, had resettled in Candelaria after she
married Vicente de Ocampo.
Folks
from San Juan were used to walking only to Candelaria,
and vice versa.
In her
town in San Juan, Aling Dory narrated, the making of
lambanog by fermentation using the coconut juice was
traditionally meant just for local consumption and not
for business.
But as
her family grew, she opted to sell lambanog to
boost household income in their home in the poblacion of
Candelaria.
She told
her four children—Vedasto, Agnes, Rizalina and Lyda— “to
nurture the business.”
Her
small stall, named “Aling Dory’s Lambanog,” became
famous in the locality for almost 40 years.
After
her husband, Vicente, died 15 years ago, Aling Dory
continued the business.
From the
proceeds, they were able to buy a small property,
located along the highway in Bukal Sur, Maharlika, a few
kilometers before the town proper from Manila.
From
this lot, the business of lambanog became known
among those who travel to South Luzon.
Aling
Dory said the Bicolanos and those who travel by land to
the Visayas provinces are the most frequent customers.
“They just stop here and buy lambanog by
gallons,” she said.
Eventually, the family managed to buy a 200-sq-m
apartment in Blumentritt in Sampaloc, Manila, and a
coconut farm in Candelaria.
“My
brothers in San Juan were also making lambanog.
They helped me how to learn it,” Aling Dory said.
She was
taught that coconut juice could only be extracted from
nuts if the trees are at least 12 years old.
The town
of Candelaria hosts four big companies that produce
desiccated products, mainly coming from coconut.
Candelaria is now the top producer of fresh coconut in
the country.
To
protect the coconut industry in the province, Quezon
Gov. Raffy Nantes issued an executive order that bans
all forms of cutting of coconut trees.
He said
only those coconut trees which have reached the age of
60 would be exempt on the prohibition.
“These
60-year-old trees are considered no longer productive,
so they would be allowed to be cut down,” Nantes said.
Now, the
lambanog business is run by the siblings.
Vedasto,
the oldest sibling, said the factory produces 20 gallons
out of 110 gallons of coconut juice in hours of cooking.
Rizalina
said they were in the process of exporting lambanog
in the state of Arizona and in Japan.
However,
US authorities have set only a small level of alcohol
for a certain kind of liquor to enter the US market. “We
are now in the process of lowering the alcohol content
of lambanog,” Rizalina said.
Lambanog
when pure contains 90-percent alcohol.
“Vicente
Uno” is the prime produce of the family’s business.
Named after their father, Vicente, it is now 45-percent
alcohol and sold in 750-ml bottles.
This
July the premium lambanog from Aling Dory’s small
store in Candelaria, Quezon, will be available in the
liquor section of big malls in Metro Manila. |
