Dirt poor? Not us, say sellers of soil snack
Source: Agencies |
March 18, 2010, Thursday
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Print Edition
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IN Indonesia, soil is not just a raw material for bricks and ceramics, it's also a snack that one family has been making for generations.
Tuban in East Java Province is the only village that produces "ampo," a snack made from clean, gravel-free dark earth collected from nearby paddy fields.
Although there is no medical evidence, villagers believe the soil snacks are an effective pain-killer and pregnant women are encouraged to eat them as it is believed to refine the skin of the unborn baby.
There is no real recipe: makers of the snack use a wooden stick to pound the soil into a hard, solid mass.
Rolls of dirt are then scraped off the with a bamboo dagger, baked and smoked in large clay pot for half and hour and then they're ready to serve.
The better the quality of the soil, the better the taste of the snack, said its creator, 53-year-old Rasima.
Rasima, who like many Indonesians only has one name, makes ampo every day to sell at the local market, just like her ancestors.
She is the village's only ampo producer, and can earn up to US$2 a day to help her family's farming income.
"The ampo making has become a family tradition in the village and I don't know exactly when it started. All I know is that it was made by my great-grandmother and it was continued by my grandmother then my mother and now I continue to make it."
Rasima says her knack for finding good soil comes from her job as a field worker. "I work in the paddy fields of others, looking for banana and teak leaves, so my job is always in touch with nature."
Fans say the soil snacks have a cool, creamy texture. "I think the taste is nice and I usually eat this," said one customer.
Tuban in East Java Province is the only village that produces "ampo," a snack made from clean, gravel-free dark earth collected from nearby paddy fields.
Although there is no medical evidence, villagers believe the soil snacks are an effective pain-killer and pregnant women are encouraged to eat them as it is believed to refine the skin of the unborn baby.
There is no real recipe: makers of the snack use a wooden stick to pound the soil into a hard, solid mass.
Rolls of dirt are then scraped off the with a bamboo dagger, baked and smoked in large clay pot for half and hour and then they're ready to serve.
The better the quality of the soil, the better the taste of the snack, said its creator, 53-year-old Rasima.
Rasima, who like many Indonesians only has one name, makes ampo every day to sell at the local market, just like her ancestors.
She is the village's only ampo producer, and can earn up to US$2 a day to help her family's farming income.
"The ampo making has become a family tradition in the village and I don't know exactly when it started. All I know is that it was made by my great-grandmother and it was continued by my grandmother then my mother and now I continue to make it."
Rasima says her knack for finding good soil comes from her job as a field worker. "I work in the paddy fields of others, looking for banana and teak leaves, so my job is always in touch with nature."
Fans say the soil snacks have a cool, creamy texture. "I think the taste is nice and I usually eat this," said one customer.
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