Philippine Village Profits as OFWs Snap Up Squash Noodles

By CANDICE Y. CEREZO

STO. DOMINGO, ILOCOS SUR (OFW Journalism Consortium)–SQUASH, for some Europeans, refers to the sport. For farmers here, it’s the raw material gestating a business partnership with overseas Filipino workers.

As the year ends, this town may squeeze profits from selling a novel product from that raw material: canton-style noodles from squash –the vegetable, not the sport.

Ernesto Tadeja, chief of the joined villages of Sto. Tomas and Nambaran in the town of Sto. Domingo, said OFWs have been seeking their barangay for balikbayan boxes of the noodles.

The new orders are swelling his heart.

“This means not only an additional income to our cooperative but a bit by bit expansion of the business. Who would not want to sell abroad?” said Tajeda, president of the Association of Barangay Chairmen (ABC).

He said OFWs bringing the squash canton abroad may mean more referrals and customers asking about their product.

Tajeda is also banking on the OFWs to place on the tourism string their town, just an hour-drive from Vigan.

Who knows? Maybe more OFWs who would one day take a vacation in Ilocos Sur would look for our town to get bulk orders, Tajeda said.

Sto. Tomas and Nambaran are two of the smallest villages in the town of Sto. Domingo in Ilocos Sur.

Of the 94 households, Tajeda claims there are about 20 OFW households composed of either migrants or OFWs.

This is where they started channeling their promotion of squash canton outside the country, he said.

“We wish to expand. We would want to get the support of OFWs so that if ever they go back here, they could purchase our product, bring it to Manila, then abroad.”

Tajeda said Filipinos returning here would usually buy a box containing 98 packs of the 250-gram noodles.

They sell a 250-gram pack for P25 (more than half a dollar) when bought in their locality but charge P30 per pack if the product is sold in Manila.

Tajeda said they are selling each pack higher to OFWs.

He didn’t say how much the Filipinos are selling each pack abroad or if they’re selling them at all.

Wok hard

WITH the increased order from OFWs for squash canton noodles, the community of agrarian reform beneficiaries in this village has been heating up things.

Steam swirls above three large woks lined in an open area, manned by farmers of the Metro Nambaran Multi-Purpose Cooperative.

A woman farmer lifts a ladle, cooking oil dripping from noodles.

She and the other farmers were frying the last few batches of the noodles.

Tajeda said that although there already is the sayote canton, their novel canton is the very first variety of canton made of squash in the country.

“Other canton noodles sold in public markets are just made of flour and food coloring. It lacks the nutrients ours have, like beta-carotene or Vitamin A,” Tajeda claims.

Squash canton is made from a mixture of egg, squash, and salt.

A farmer places the fried noodles on wax paper, allowing these to dry.

Others are wrapping in plastic the dried and crunchy noodles, formed into a square, and placing them inside balikbayan boxes.