Filipino Street Food: Balut (Duck Embryo)

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Street foods, they are cheap but delicious. A savior of the malnourished wallets. (Lol). Street foods vary from one country to another especially when it comes to its uniqueness. Therefore I say, street foods represent the culture of one country.

In my country, Philippines, there is one street food that most Filipinos love (I'd say most because not all Filipinos eat it). This have also captured the attention of foreigners because it's different and maybe they consider it "exotic". There were tons of videos uploaded doing a challenge of eating this one of a kind street food. (If you are vegan and happened to read this post, I advice you to skip this post. Hehe.)

What am I talking about?

It's the Balut!

(Yeah, just act you're surprised even if you've already read the title of this post before opening it.)

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Balut is a fertilized duck egg embryo. The egg contains a yolk, white egg, partially-developed duck, and some liquid. You can find balut vendors near or at the town or city proper or wherever there are lots of foot traffic. They begin selling in the afternoon until night. One balut costs around Php 15 to Php 20 ($ 0.29 - 0.39 USD) or maybe a little higher than that. It depends.

I made this post since one of the relief goods we receive from our barangay was balut. It's surprising they thought of including balut, probably to save the business because I read a news where a balut dealer failed to sell their baluts so the eggs have fully developed and ducklings came out of the shell. Lol. So now, I'll tell you how to eat it.

HOW TO EAT BALUT!

1.) Crack a small hole on one end of the egg. This depends on the amount of liquid in the egg. You can peel more of the shell if the liquid is still far from the brim.

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2.) The balut you buy on the street usually comes with salt wrapped on a tiny paper but our barangay maybe have forgotten to include sold so I used what we have here at home. Lol. Salt is a very important ingredient when eating balut because this is what brings out the flavor of the food. Now, sprinkle a pinch of salt into the egg and sip the liquid. Sprinkle some again whenever you take another sip.

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3.) When you have drank all the liquid, it's time to peel half of the shell. From this point, you'll already see the embryo next to the yolk. Sprinkle some salt and you're ready to take your first bite! Now, there are two ways to eat it after sipping the balut juice. You can use a spoon to eat the yolk and the embryo. If you don't eat the embryo (like me), scrape the poor embryo and set it aside or you can scrape the yolk instead just like what I did.

Another method is to just bite the yolk and embryo straight from the egg. This is the way to go when you're outside and can't find any spoon. Of course, you can remove the embryo with your hands if you don't like eating it.

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Sorry, no photo of the embryo! Lol. Search it on the internet if you want to see how it looks like. :)

And oh don't mind the thin veins on the yolk. That's normal for balut. :)

4.) This is optional. You can eat the egg white when it's soft or chewable. If it's hard then throw it.

And you're done eating balut! Congrats!

Balut is a delicious street food. It is almost the same as the regular boiled egg we eat but the real challenge for balut is the embryo. Not all Filipinos eat the embryo when eating balut. (I'm one of them. Haha.) Sorry, but it looks gross and I can't imagine eating a whole duck. You know, including it head and feet. Waaaa!! But the yolk and liquid is delicious. It's what makes me want to eat it. (There's actually a version of balut where there is still no embryo developing, it's called Penoy or Balut Penoy.)

They say street foods are dirty because they are exposed on the street, of course. I agree with that but of course, be wary of choosing. Choose those which was recently cooked and avoid those of which were on standby for hours on the tray. Also check the location of the stall or cart. If the surroundings is dirty with lots of flies patrolling then don't bother buying there. Go find another somewhere.

That's all. Maybe I'll share some other street foods next time, the less exotic ones. Hahaha.

Would you dare try eating balut?



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Yes, I dared to try it long ago. Sorry but I did not like it! Haha

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Really? Lol!
Where did you get one?

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In the Philippines. I've been there! They took a video of me eating it too. I couldn't finish it. I liked penoy better

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Wow! For a vacation?
Haha yes, penoy is a safe option if you don't like balut.

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Yes I went for vacation to Bataan and Palawan

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Oh..those are nice places! But I haven't been there yet. Good for you. 😁

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