The Philippine’s Traditional and Native Equipment:

Palayok

The Filipino way of life was shaped by food. Aside from cooking, there are shares of

precious memories of who they are with, which makes them even more meaningful. Food

connects strangers, friends, and even families, regardless of lifestyle differences. This can be

observed on occasions like birthdays, school graduations, anniversaries, or even an informal

gathering. This is a prevalent value among Asians, but Filipinos take it to a whole new level.

Filipino food is easy to prepare and delicious to share and consume. They are

characterized by the combination of flavor and texture. There are many different ways to prepare

food in Filipino cuisine, one of which is to use the clay pot with a lid, which also adds flavor to the

ingredients and makes them more aromatic. According to Scott (2018), pottery was first

discovered around 1000 BC. C. Found and discovered in Palawan, with ceramic fragments in a

cave in Masbate from 1275 BC. C. Emerged. C14 indicates a style of manufacturing still used by

non-Hispanized tribes in the Cordillera Central. It is made of earthenware, a porous ceramic

material. This allows the cooking steam to evaporate from the pores of the earthenware. Food

juices only start to burn only when all the water has evaporated and the food is completely cooked.

Since ceramic does not transfer as much heat as metal, cooking in a clay pot will require more

time and a higher temperature than is normally used with metal cookware.

Pottery is one of the most useful crafts. Ceramic can be useful, which means that it can

be used in everyday life or for decorative purposes. It has been around since ancient times

because you need plates and bowls to eat. Another use was the containers to store food, liquids
and dry products. Most of the clay pots were made and used for daily culinary activities, while the

small pots with indentations were designed as ornaments such as goblets, foot shells, and

spherical bottles. Since the great discovery of clay pots at an early age, has been used in the

Philippines as a traditional container for food preparation and carries the so-called palayok. Like

all other forms of pottery, clay pots are made of clay, which is formed with the help of water, dried,

and then baked at high temperatures with a glaze for decorative purposes. But with clay pots it is

usually seasoned so that it can be used as cooking ware.

During generations of clay pots being used and discovered, this became the "Palayok

Oven", invented and credited by Filipino cooking expert Maria Orosa by turning crockery into an

oven. Maria Orosa simply placed a piece of cut sheet metal in the bottom of the pot and a piece

of aluminum foil under the lid. To reflect heat back into the pot as the metal piece are design to it.

These clay pots are used to cook traditional Filipino dishes, usually over hot coals, in the oven, in

the microwave, on the stove and can be used as a food container or serving container and can

be placed directly on the table with its ring made of braided bamboo for an authentic presentation

to serve freshly prepared food at the table. It was a big part of authentic classic Filipino cuisine in

the Philippines, dishes like KareKare, Bulalo, Sinigang and other Lutong Bahay were created or

enhanced with the Palayok. Knowing your own equipment will help you better understand how it

all started and how grateful we are to our ancestors for inventing such cooking tools. If it weren't

for them, we would have nothing to improve and our modern equipment to start with. All of our

modern equipment comes from our old and local.

In conclusion, Palayok is still useful as a cooking instrument in the present but only a few

restaurant or in some household use this for the daily basis of cooking. Thus, no matter how these

indigenous materials being replaced with innovative tools in cooking it is still one of the most

useful and safest way upon food preserving and preparation. We may have or have not used this
kind of tool yet, hence, let’s just appreciate how the beauty of palayok is being created and molded

in today’s generation.
 References:

Quicho, D. M. et al. (2019). Enhancing Filipino Food Using the Old and Traditional Native

Equipment. Retrieved from http://apjeas.apjmr.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/APJEAS-

2019.6.1.10.pdf

Panlasang Pinoy Recipes (2021). Panlasang Pinoy Recipes. Retrieved From:

https://www.panlasangpinoyrecipes.com/is-it-safe-to-use-palayok-clay-pots/

Wikipedia (2020). Palayok. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palayok