The Pili of Bicol

It was such a pleasure to read Obi’s food memories that I could not resist asking him to write about the pili nut of Bicol. Pili nuts, endemic to Bicol, are consumed as fruit, nut-in-shell, or shelled, fresh, roasted, or candied. The ripe, deep purple fruits, shaped like a zeppelin, are just over an inch long. The pili meat comes from the edible husk of the fruit. The thin purple skin is peeled from the blanched husk enclosing the hard nut shell. The cooked meat has a very unique, rich flavor called natoc. The fruit can be eaten as is, right off the nut shell, or the softened meat can be separated from the nut and mashed, either in thick coconut milk, to which patis and spring onions may be added, or with sugar.