Traditional Food: Liquor - Tapey vars: Tapuy, Tapuey - (The Igorot Rice Wine)

TAPEY (The Igorot ricewine) – Is the famous alcoholic beverage of the Igorots. It is a wine made from rice. Traditionally, it is used or offered by the Igorots for libation during public feasts, thanksgivings or other activities. It is also served when someone host meeting or gathering at his house or at other place like the Dap-ay. But then and now, anyone can really make tapey to be consumed personally by the person anytime.

It could be consumed best on the 4th-6th day of brewing when it is still sweet. Do not allow children to drink any amount of it, instead, give them fruit juices or milk drinks. Also, do not booze on it because it can give a real heavy hangover. Consume it in sobriety for the good health.

Ingredients and Materials:

- 1/2 lb of bubod (a whitish disc-shaped mass of yeasted starch that is commonly sold in the northern Philippines)
- 1 kl of rice (preferably the sticky or glutinous variety. Igorots prefer the kintuman – a violet red sticky rice usually cultivated in the northern Philippines)
- l lit. of drinking water
- 1 big clean banana leaf or a clean flat surface – to be used where to spread the rice for cooling and curing
- a gusi (clay jar) or any container except soft plastic – enough to contain the cooked rice
- a ladle
- rice cooker or cooking container

Procedures

PREPARATION: In the preparation and curing of tapey, some old folks who are being reputed as good tapey makers usually choose the time between midnight and dusk to start it. they said there should be no any distraction in order not to disturb the spirit of the tapey. Of course, there must also be a lesser chance of spreading other bacteria on the tapey when you are alone in the kitchen or anywhere else where you do the prepration for brewing.

COOK THE RICE: Now that you have made all the materials and ingredients ready, wash the rice and cook it with the 1 liter of drinking water. While waiting for the rice to be half-cooked, you can have a free time to drink a cup of the tapey that you’ve previously created ahihi :D Always check the rice, and then set it aside after the boiling water or the bubbles have already gone, this means the rice is ready to be made tapey.

CURE THE RICE: Lay the banana leaf upside down on a flat surface and use the ladle to spread the hot newly cooked rice on top of it so that the rice would be about 1 inch thick. Cool it down first before crushing and crumbing the bubod all over the top of the rice.

PREPARE FOR FERMENTATION: After the bubod curing, use the ladle to put the rice into the gusi or container (brewing container). Cover it with 2 to 3 plies of torn banana leaf or a clean piece of cloth and seal it with a rubber band or a garter. Do not cover it tightly with a hard cap else the cap or the container will break as the fermentation goes.

BREWING: Store or hide the brew in a warm and safe place or in a moderately temperatured place, and let the time do the rest of the process.

SWEET TASTE OF LABOR: At the fourth day after you brew your famous ricewine, you should go back to your brewing place to have a good drink of the sweet ricewine you have just made. Note that it should taste sweet, if not, then you must have stumbled on another kind of ricewine.

The tapey have two parts, the liquid which is called the ricewine and the solid or the mash which is called the winerice. Both can be consumed at the same time, but you can also extract the ricewine and discard the solid mass. Take note also that its taste changes with time. Again, if you want to preserve it for a long time, do not seal the container airtight because the cap or container will break.