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Kiniing: the Benguet Kankanaey ham

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet (Mar. 11) – The Kankanaey of this province produce traditional ham known as kiniing. This indigenous technology is intact and well preserved by the villagers of Kibungan, narrates elder Patricio Bokilis, 60 years old, in their booth displayed last week in the Adivay celebration at the Benguet State University (BSU).

One attraction of the Kibungan booth is the kiniing meat which hangs above the fireplace of their 1940s indigenous hut. The first celebration of Adivay, a counterpart of Baguio’s Panagbenga (Flower Festival), displayed the cultural heritage and products of the municipalities of Benguet.

Bokilis, in an interview with NORDIS, said that indigenous preparations are made for a good-tasting kiniing. The secrets of the practice, he adds, are usually kept and shared by elders in the community who have acquired the knowledge from involvement in their rituals and practices. Their village in Kibungan is located in the northernmost part of this province. It is accessible through the rugged Halsema Highway.
Kiniing preparation

Lakay Bokilis shares that guava leaves are first boiled. Salt is added to the boiling water. The decoction is removed from the fire, transferred in a basin or any container where the meat can be soaked for a few minutes. Guava leaves are removed from the boiled water to facilitate the soaking process of the meat.

He adds that the boiled guava leaves will make the meat acquire a better smell. The smell drives away flies that might destroy the meat. It will also harden the meat a little bit.

The meat is hung in the ceiling just above the suuban, or fireplace. The meat is smoked with pine wood to help in its preservation. Bokilis added that other tree species are not good because their smoke makes the meat taste different.

For tastier kiniing, the meat is hung in the suuban for a month or two. “If the meat is hung longer than that, even up to a year, it becomes harder. It takes a longer period to cook kiniing that has been smoked for over two months, he said.

The kiniing is removed from the suuban and kept in an indigenous basket called buatala or saket. The basket, woven from wild bamboo, is hung in another part of the house.

Meat preference

Different Cordillera ethnolinguistic groups have preference as to meat part that will be preserved. Among the Kankanaeys of Kibungan, they prefer the meat from a pig, carabao, or cow’s leg to be made as kiniing, usually the lean part. The meat is sliced thinly.

Like other Cordillera groups, the meat preferred for kiniing are the animals used during the cañao, a celebration where animals are offered in thanksgiving usually due to productive economic activities. He claims that the more pigs offered, the need to butcher also a carabao arises. Bokilis said that a cañao offering can reach as much as five pigs or more. “Such number of pigs offered requires that carabaos should also be butchered,” he claims. As more animals are butchered more meat is left to the celebrant which the latter utilizes for kiniing.

Animal meat offered in traditional joyous rituals like marriage is utilized as kiniing too. While the meat is shared among community members, some part of it is left with the celebrant. That part includes one to two animal legs.

“It is taboo for us to utilize animal meat during rituals on death, accidents, and other related incidents. The preparation of kiniing is done for joyous occasions, like in marriage and cañao.

Bokilis added that kiniing meat is cooked deliciously even with vegetables like sayote which is abundant in their area. # Arthur L. Allad-iw for NORDIS

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