Ingredients
The base
- 2 litresbasi
- fermented sugarcane wine
- or 2 litres fresh sugarcane juice
- fermented first into basi
The starter
- 200 mllive unpasteurised vinegar
- with a mother if possible
- or a vinegar mother
- from a previous batch
The vessel
- a wide glass or clay jar
- scrupulously clean
- a cloth cover
- and a rubber band
- no metal at all
Used for
- dipping sauces, sawsawan
- adobo
- paksiw
- kinilaw
Directions
- Discard anything that smells wrong or grows mould. Pickling recipes assume about five percent acidity. Use that for anything you intend to store. Never ferment or store it in a metal vessel. Use glass, clay or food-grade plastic only. Use a wooden or plastic spoon to stir it. Wash the jar in very hot soapy water. It must be scrupulously clean before you start.
- Rinse it thoroughly to remove all soap. Then let the jar dry completely. Use a wide jar rather than a narrow one. The bacteria need that oxygen to work. Pour the basi into the clean jar. Fill it no more than two thirds full. The mother needs space to form on top.
- Stir in the live unpasteurised vinegar. It must be live rather than pasteurised. Cover the jar with a cloth and a rubber band. A cloth lets air in but keeps insects out.
- Use a tight weave cloth or muslin. Never use an airtight lid at any point. Put the jar somewhere warm and dark. Leave the jar for one to three months. Warm conditions can finish it in a month. Cool ones can take three or more. Taste it periodically rather than timing it. Taste a spoonful every couple of weeks.
- Use a clean plastic or wooden spoon. Stop when it tastes properly of vinegar. Keep it for the next batch afterward. Discard the entire batch if that appears. Do not try to scrape it off and continue.
- Strain the finished vinegar through cloth. Lift the mother out first and keep it. Do not try to clarify it further. Pour the vinegar into clean glass bottles. Use glass rather than metal or thin plastic. Seal them with plastic-lined caps. Vinegar keeps essentially indefinitely.
- Mix vinegar with garlic, chilli and soy. Do not stir adobo while the vinegar cooks off. Let it boil undisturbed for a few minutes first. Use only fish suitable for eating raw. The acid keeps it longer without refrigeration. Strain it out and use the vinegar as normal.
Technique
- Home vinegar has an unknown acid strength, and that matters greatly for preserving. Pickling recipes assume about five percent acidity, and under-acidic pickles can allow bacterial growth including the organisms causing botulism. Never use unmeasured home vinegar for anything intended to be shelf-stable — use commercial vinegar with the acidity stated on the label. Home vinegar is fine for dressing and cooking, and the atlas draws that line plainly.
- The starter must be live unpasteurised vinegar, since pasteurised contains no living bacteria and will not start anything. Cover the jar with cloth rather than a lid: the bacteria need oxygen to make acid, a sealed jar stops the process and can build pressure, and the cloth keeps fruit flies out. Never use metal — vinegar reacts with it — so ferment and store in glass or clay and stir with wood or plastic.
- A pale gelatinous mat on the surface is the mother and entirely normal. Fuzzy coloured growth — black, green, pink or blue — is mould: discard the whole batch rather than scraping it off. Smell it at each check, and discard anything putrid.
Substitutions
- Sukang Iloko is sold bottled in Philippine shops and widely available elsewhere, which is genuinely the easier route; the atlas records the method for interest. It is cloudy by nature and that cloudiness is characteristic rather than a fault.
- Fresh sugarcane juice must first be fermented into basi, the sugarcane wine, before it can become vinegar — vinegar making has two stages, yeast turning sugar to alcohol and then Acetobacter turning alcohol to acetic acid, and both are necessary.
Variations
- Spanish authorities monopolised basi production in Ilocos and banned local people from making their own, which triggered the Basi Revolt of 1807. It was put down with considerable force and is remembered in the Philippines as a documented episode of colonial resistance, commemorated in Ilocos to this day.
- Use a wide jar filled no more than two thirds, since a wide surface exposes more liquid to the air the bacteria need and the mother requires space to form. Keep it warm and dark at around twenty-five degrees, out of direct sunlight, and taste it every couple of weeks rather than timing it — one to three months depending on temperature.
- Vinegar is the base of most sawsawan, the Filipino dipping sauces each eater mixes at the table, and is essential to adobo, where it both flavours and tenderises. Filipino practice is not to stir adobo while the vinegar first boils off, which drives away the harshest note. Kinilaw cures raw fish in it, but acid does not kill parasites or make unsafe fish safe — use only fish suitable for eating raw, from a supplier you trust.
History
Fermented in Ilocos from sugarcane basi; the region’s vinegar culture underpins much of Philippine sour cooking.
Frequently asked questions
What is Sukang Iloko?
Sukang Iloko is a sauce & condiment from Philippines: cloudy sugarcane vinegar used for dipping sauces and for adobo. Fermented in Ilocos from sugarcane basi; the region’s vinegar culture underpins much of Philippine sour cooking.
How long does Sukang Iloko take to make?
Sukang Iloko takes 20 minutes plus fermenting of preparation and no cooking at all. The recipe makes about 2 litres. It is rated hard to make.
What can I substitute in Sukang Iloko?
Yes, within limits. Sukang Iloko is sold bottled in Philippine shops and widely available elsewhere, which is genuinely the easier route; the atlas records the method for interest. It is cloudy by nature and that cloudiness is characteristic rather than a fault. Fresh sugarcane juice must first be fermented into basi, the sugarcane wine, before it can become vinegar — vinegar making has two stages, yeast turning sugar to alcohol and then Acetobacter turning alcohol to acetic acid, and both are necessary.
What is the most important thing to get right in Sukang Iloko?
Discard anything that smells wrong or grows mould. Pickling recipes assume about five percent acidity. Use that for anything you intend to store. Never ferment or store it in a metal vessel. Use glass, clay or food-grade plastic only. Use a wooden or plastic spoon to stir it. Wash the jar in very hot soapy water. It must be scrupulously clean before you start.
