Sundays have always been my favorite part of the week. Whether its solemn or sunshiny, it still gives me that fresh Sunday vibe. My family has gotten the habit of going to the beach on Sundays and have meals by the shore. What makes it more interesting is that we get to eat freshly made seafoods and enjoy the beach at the same time.
My family and I have always loved the taste of seafoods. It’s like a break from all those oily meats and unhealthy foods and cooking over the week. It’s fresh raw taste gives such a wholesome feeling to your taste buds. Seafoods are a hit here in Mindanao. Since flee markets are famous in this area, these types of seafood stuffs can be easily bought in those markets or you can even get it by yourself, that is if your knowledgeable and skilled enough to do it. With Sundays reserved as a rest day for the family, along with fresh seafoods just around the corner, I say it would be a great day for some edible marine fish and shellfish.
We mostly settle for the famous “tuyom” and “swake” mix, this includes seaweeds, sea veggies. There’s a lot of sea plants which can be eaten by humans, but we would only settle for the common and to what is available in the area. That would be “guso” and “lato”.
Both of these sea plants are commonly eaten by people in our area, since they are probably the safest to eat or they are what is easily accessed. “Guso” or Eucheuma looks like a tree branch only it is soft and green which gives a salty and a little bit of sour taste, that is perfect when mixed with sour vinegar alongside “lato” or Caulerpa lentillifera .
Looks like grapes, only it grows in the sea and it’s quite smaller in size than the grapes we usually sea. Like “guso” it is also green and soft and has that salty sour taste. It’s grapey fruit pops in the mouth when you eat giving you that tingly feeling every time you eat it. “Tuyom” and “swake” are types of edible sea urchins, obviously there are a lot of sea urchins in the sea but these two are the most common and the more accessible urchins in the area.
“Tuyom” is a black urchin which has long pointy spikes that can be very painful when touched. It has this salty bland taste which is perfect when “swake” is mixed in. “Swake” looks quite like “tuyom”, only it has shorter spikes that makes it safer for you to pick up using bare hands. As for how it tastes, it has this sweet salty flavor that would go perfectly with just about anything.
Just in case you would want to try our family favorite; in making the mix, you’ll need to have the most basic spices which we like to call “lamas”. It would include freshly cut red onions, some onion leaves, tomato, salt, a bit of msg, and sour vinegar. After having the spices, you can then mix them together without a particular order as long as you have everything that is mentioned. Next up are the “guso” and “lato”, before putting it in the spice mix, you need to wash them properly with water and then just put it in the mix right after. Those were just the easy parts, now here comes the hard one. Both the “swake” and “tuyom” have the same way of preparation. First, you’ll need a basin of sea water, it is what you use to wash the “tuyom” after you open it to remove its insides. Second, you’ll need a knife to cut it open. A spoon and of course a bowl to put the edible parts. How to spot the edible parts? It’s easy, the moment you wash away the insides you’ll see something yellowish sticking on the sides of its shell. You can use the spoon to gather up everything. After that you can then add them to the mix.
Everything is set up, you can then enjoy your freshly made “tuyom” and “swake” mix with your friends and family. Trust me when I say they are the best on Sundays. So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and experience my kind of seafood encounters.
