I, Farm Boy! Mindanao Ube Jam Gets Massive Support

Even before Ube lovers could taste the first spoonful, the Mindanao Ube Jam is already getting a lot of attention and advance orders.

Political scientist and UP Professor Clarita Carlos and journalist and blogger Krisette Laureta-Chu are among the hundreds of friends who are literally craving for the Mindanao Ube Jam.

Many have already placed advanced orders while others asked if they could help sell.

They will not wait long.

Two nights ago, during a family gathering for the 40th day of prayers for our departed mother, I asked my brothers, their wives and kids to make a final taste test of our Ube Jam.

The verdict was unanimous: the Mindanao Ube Jam tastes real and the color is faithful to the original Ube.

Once in the mouth, the Ube fiber is distinguishable and it is delectable and crunchy.

In our dialect, we call that unique taste as “marabu.”

The younger members of the family, however, said they wanted it to be a little sweeter.

Also, they took notice of the use of “Wild Honey,” raising concerns that it may not be sustainable and ecologically friendly.

So, our final formulation of the Mindanao Ube Jam which uses pure Ube with Goat’s milk, will have more honey to sweeten it a bit more.

Also, instead of “Wild Honey,” we will be using “Pure Honey.”

This means that we will use Honey from wild bees when available and encourage farmers to raise bees to produce honey.

With this, there will be three groups of farmers who will benefit from the project – the Ube farmer, the Dairy Goat farmer and the Bee farmer.

Added to that, we would need young food technicians who will process our Ube Jam following strict sanitary and health protocols.

This week, I will bring some samples for the Mindanao Ube Jam to Manila.

Some of these will be submitted to the SGS for nutritional and shelf life analysis and the Food and Drug Administration for the Certificate of Product Registration.

Of course, to satisfy their craving, I will samples for Prof. Carlos and Krisette and a few other friends.

We will be ready to launch the Mindanao Ube Jam by December.

#KungGustoMaramingParaan!

#CompleteValueChain!

(Label design by Samuel Ponsica, MinDA)