Argao at 400

Among the famous cottage industries that Argao is known for is tableya making.

Tableya is Cebuano for unsweetened chocolate rounds made from cacao or cocoa beans. It is a crucial ingredient in the Filipino delicacies sikwate and champorado.

Sikwate is a hot chocolate drink paired with puto, another famous Cebuano food made from steamed glutinous rice, while champorado is sweetened rice porridge cooked with tableya.

Tableya maker Edward Dionzon, who has been making the bitter chocolate rounds from cacao for 18 years, said the secret to great tableya is the quality of cacao beans. (View photos of the tableya making process)

In the early years of tableya making, Dionzon said Argawanons grow the cacao themselves.

The cultivation of cacao had been a source of livelihood for many Argao residents in the past but it had slowly disappeared over time.

Now, Dizon added, the remaining few tableya makers in the town get their cacao beans from Mindanao.

Dionzon works for Miguela “Guilang” Lanoton, one of the few makers of pure tableya in the area. Pure tableya is chocolate rounds made solely from cacao beans.

To create the pure tableya that Argao is known for, Dizon said makers get only the best cacao beans and dry them under the heat of the sun. When dried, the outer skins of the beans flake off and are painstakingly taken out of the bundle. As an extra measure, the beans are threshed using a winnowing basket to remove the remaining husks or chaff.

The beans are then roasted over wooden fire. Once this is finished, the beans go on a grinding machine and ground at least three times for a smooth liquid consistency.

The resulting substance is set aside to cool for seven to eight hours before they are formed into rounds of small, medium, or large size.

Dionzon said he can’t remember when tableya making started in Argao but it is an industry that is handed down from family to family. As far as tales he heard from his grandmother as a child, Dionzon said tableya making is as old as the town itself.

Tableya making is so important it spawned its own legend. The story goes that in the old days, a couple named Maria Cacao and Mangao lived in Mount Lantoy and they owned a golden ship that they use to export their crops. Whenever rains flood the river that comes from the mountain, this is a sign that Maria Cacao and her husband are bringing their crops down the mountain to be sold or are on their way back to the cave in Mount Lantoy where they live. The cacao plants outside the cave are supposed to be Maria Cacao’s plantation. This myth has been often cited to show that tableya making is indeed a very old tradition of the people in the town.

Guilang said they decided to go into commercial production of tableya in 1948. Before that, they had produced just enough tableya for the needs of family, close friends, and neighbors.

Guilang does not have outlets for her tableyas outside of the town, although there are people who act as middlemen by buying tableya from her and reselling them to customers outside of the town.

When in Argao, visitors may buy pure tableya at Guilang’s house in the village of Canbanua. Across the street from Guilang’s house is a wooden shack where she starts the process of producing at least 6,000 pieces or some 40 kilos or pure tableya.

To get to Guilang’s house, just ask any of the “habal-habal” (motorcycle-for-hire) drivers to bring you there. Guilang is well known in the town and her house is just a 5-minute ride on a motorcycle-for-hire from the town center.

For orders, contact Guilang at mobile phone number 0909-3013868. Tableya prices vary according to the size of each piece: 1-peso (small), 1.50 pesos (medium), and 2 pesos (large).