Bagoong is a Filipino condiment known particularly as a product of the Ilocos region of Northern Luzon. It is made by mixing measured amounts of fish and brine, which are traditionally then left to ferment from between 10 to 12 months until it produces bubbles and acquires its characteristic pungent odour. In the United States, bagoong has similarities with anchovies used for pizza topping, while its method of preparation is akin to that of kimchi in the Korean Peninsula.

Other names

Other names for bagoong are Alamang, Monamon, andTerong. But not really- those are just the type of fishes used to make bagoong.

Manufacture

In Ancient Rome, a similar sauce was produced called garum. The difference with bagoong, which uses the entirety of the fish, is that garum was composed mainly of fish intestines. Bagoong was originally made from only several types of fish, such as monamon, padas and ipon (a variety of goby); these measured about two inches long. After being finely ground and properly fermented in earthenware jars for the set amount of time, the fish are then canned the way they were and sold to consumers.

Patis

People have unknowingly conflated this condiment with its byproduct, patis. Patis was discovered when after the fermentation process, a clear yellowish liquid floated above the bagoong. Similar sauces like patis exist throughout Asia and are also used in their respective local cuisines such as thenuoc mam in Vietnam, hom ha in China, nam pla in Thailand, shitsuru in Japan and saeu chot in Korea.

History

In the Philippines, especially the older generation of Filipino farmers, particularly the Ilocano people, life is not the same without bagoong (bugguong in the Ilocano dialect) in daily meals, to the point that some would live on it, making it their viand alongside rice. To most, basic food were boiled rice and dinengdeng, a vegetable stew, which was then spiced or flavoured with this salty concoction. Affluent individuals exhibited preference for the more elaborate pinakbet, also with bagoong to accompany it.

At one time, bagoong was synonymous with the surname Lorenzana. According to the family's oral history, Don Felipe had already experimented with the sauce since the middle of the 1900's but was stumped on how. It remained a cottage industry until later, when in 1928, he began large-scale manufacturing of bagoong. To meet with the projected demands, he sent his nephew Delphin to research for other sources of fish and salt in the southern Philippines and the Visayas. Although he was not the first to make this concoction, Don Felipe Lorenzana envisioned and pioneered its large-scale production. The Lorenzana brand eventually gained popularity throughout the country, even in the central and southern islands to whom this was not native. Ultimately it was introduced internationally, particularly in Hawai'i  and the mainland United States. Presently, bagoong products are exported to Europe and the Middle East due to the high numbers of the Filipino diaspora in these areas.

According to letters and conversations with the late Sostenes Lorenzana and attested tro by the autobiography of Dr. Crispina Lorenzana Macagba, this is how it started. In 1928, Don Felipe and an American missionary friend, Dr. Widdoes, were traveling to Manila from the small town of Tagudin. As they crossed the great Amburayan River by bus on a balsa or raft made from bamboos or logs (there was no bridge at that time), they had a chance to talk. Don Felipe told the reverend that he was going to Manila to buy burnays  (large earthen jars) so he could start making local wines called Basi , made from sugar cane. But the pastor admonished him that wines would just make people drunk. This bothered him but thought that traditionally burnay were always used for fermenting wines.

Nevertheless, he brainstormed what other businesses he could do with it. While in Manila, he saw some Chinese mom and pop businesses using large open tin cans to ferment the salted fish mixture. These cans would become rusty quickly. Then came the idea that he could do the same thing better and more sanitary: using the burnays! That’s how the Lorenzana bagoong and patis (fish sauce) were born. Fish sauce is just that: after a few months of fermentation, the fish and brine mixture becomes bagoong and at the same time a clear yellowish thick sauce starts appearing at the top. These are separated, bottled and sold as Patis. Bagoong could be made from different kinds of fishes like sardines, shrimp, clams, ipon, etc. In the early days, as mentioned above, Lorenzana Bagoong used burnays until the firm started large scale production and replaced it with large concrete vats. Although burnays are still used today, it is relegated to smaller batch fermentation.

The making of bagoong was necessary, because in the early days, there was no refrigeration. The unsold fish especially the small ones would be processed into bagoong including giveaway to neighbors. The big ones were salted and dried in the sun and made into daing (salted dry fish), another Filipino delicacy. The Lorenzana brand products took off rapidly after it was exhibited in a trade fair. Soon the clan became rich and famous because of this seemingly lowly product. They set up retail stores in Aparri, Manila and Cebu.

As an adjunct, later on they ventured out to the manufacture of fishnets. Between the 1930s and 1950s, the Lorenzana Food Corporation had its products introduced into Hawai'i and eventually to the mainland United States. Bagoong easily became popular as there were many sakadas living in these parts. The sakadas were Filipino farmers recruited from the Philippines from between 1906 to 1946 as labour in pineapple and sugar plantations on the Hawaiian islands, and on the mainland to work on farms in California and canneries in Alaska. Most of these hard-working Filipinos were Ilocanos who were already familiar with bagoong and the Lorenzana brand.

Currently, there are other manufacturers of bagoong from Thailand and Vietnam.

Bagoong in America

The Immigration Act of 1965 liberalised and increased the immigration of Filipinos in the United States, particularly professionals. Because of the exodus up to the present, the Filipino diaspora is a growing market for Filipino goods and products. For the Lorenzana brand, partly because of family wrangling and disinterestedness, it lost ground to newer and more aggressive manufacturers. The brand has since split into several companies.

The popularity of these products is getting wider. Even some celebrity chefs are now learning to use bagoong in their creations, as was shown on television morning shows like Good Morning America and Today shows.

Modern day bagoong

In the fifties and sixties, manufacturers started experimenting with other types such as Alamang (Aramang in Ilocano or shrimp paste) Terong (Bonnet-mouth), shell fish like clams and in other areas, fish roe, similar to caviar. To give more appeal, they even started using coloring ingredients. In the Philippines, people learned to eat mangoes with alamang just like butter to bread. The anchovies used for pizza topping are anchovy bagoong with the bone removed. The latest innovation is sautéed bagoong; bottled ready to be used as a side dish or a side condiment for Kare-kare  . Bagoong and patis are good natural MSG and good sources of important nutrition, containing omega-3.

Present Innovations

Aside from the Sauteed Alamang, the latest innovation is Cubed Bagoong. This form of the paste  is easy to use, convenient, tidy, and is not as pungent as the conventional type as the smell is tightly sealed within the packaging.

In additions, mechanisation is being explored and studied. The University of Northern Philippines' paper has come up with a Bagoong Squeezer.