Squash catsup, anyone?

MANILA, Philippines - Most Filipino households consider squash as just another vegetable which is normally cooked along with other veggies.

Little do they know that squash can be made into a product that promises to provide farmers and housewives a better income. The Monte Alba Producers Cooperative (MAPC), an offspring of the Alay Buhay Community Development Foundation Inc. (ABCDFI) in Rodriguez (formerly Montalban) Rizal, has developed a process to convert squash into a favorite sauce – catsup (to ride on the popularity of tomato and banana catsups). The cooperative’s catsup product comes in three blends – classic (plain squash), with moringa (or malunggay) and hot and spicy (cooked with siling labuyo).

Trial runs by member households of MAPC have proved the catsup to be a good ingredient for spaghetti, sweet sour mixes for fish, pork and beef; and sauce for virtually every kind of dry fried food like fish, burgers, beef tapas, embotido, spring rolls, potato fries, dimsum and even siopao, siomai, and fishball, squid ball and other congee toppings.

Discovered by the MAPC members, who come from the ranks of the poorest of the poor but were provided skills trainings by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and guided by ABCDFI (which started as an educational and scholarship program for indigent kids) in 2009 in Barangay San Rafael, Montalban, Rizal, the catsup has been promoted in six trade fairs, which made them bestsellers as the products are very unique and so are its producers.

Crisanto Sabino, executive director of ABCDFI, observed that in one such trade fair, a business development staff of Robinsons malls took particular interest in the product but was a bit hesitant to push it to its higher ups as the manufacturing plant and the products have yet to go through the rigid testing of the Bureau of Food and Drugs before it can be commercially sold.

“We are currently attending to the processing of our certification by BFAD and we hope to have our certificate released sooner than later,” Sabino said.

The squash is grown by farmers in the hilly slopes of Montalban in between other crops like eggplant, banana and other vegetables.

Sabino explained that the cooperative at first wanted to produce banana catsup but hesitated as they could not stand a chance with current giant brands being marketed in most supermarkets, convenience stores and neighborhood stores.

At least with squash they are sure that they are the innovators and they will be the pioneers in the market. “It took two months of costly trials and errors with the close supervision of TESDA before the MAPC was able to perfect the taste, consistency and quality of the product,” Sabino said.

The cooperative used to buy the catsup bottles from existing bottlers but since the foundation is also deeply involved in recycling, it decided to recycle bottles and completely sanitize them before and after production into catsups. “The producers are very meticulous with quality and product safety,” he attested.

Jinky Amor, a former housewife who is now project manager of MAPC, and Eilene Venancio, Business Operations Development chairman, said the farmers and their families are now involved in catsup manufacturing which, they said, has perked up the farmgate prices of squash to their present levels of P18 per kilo during peak season (with harvest during March) and P25 a kilo during lean season (other months of the year). When supplies are short, the cooperative buys from the markets in Divisoria or from Cloverleaf, Balintawak.

Although squash is an annual crop, harvested only during March, its shelf life is one year, especially for the lagkitan variety, which gives the rich yellow color and a consistent thickness of the sauce, Amor explained.

The cooperative also produces other farm-based food products like spring roll (lumpiang shanghai), siomai, tocino, embotido and skinless longaniza, which it sells to its members and neighbors in Rizal province or to the members and clients of the microfinance group of ABCDFI.

The coop sells the catsup at P25 a bottle, which is a bit pricey compared to commercial brands but this is because the members can guarantee that the squash and other raw materials are truly organic and did not use any chemicals during the planting, harvesting and manufacturing processes and do not contain any extenders like flour, Sabino said.