It all started with pickles
Mara Posecion (far right)
with the Mixes staff
Mixes indoors
Fruit flavored pulvoron,
turones, uraro bites and
many more
For Mara Posecion and her establishment called Mixes, it all started with pickles, specifically, ampalaya.
Posecion, a food technologist whose forte is into pickling, jam and jellies, loves to work with fruits and vegetables. She would go to the wet market and buy items that other people ignored. Then, she would create something out of those.
At present, Posecion is a local specialist on product development of the Advocate for Philippine Fair Trade (APFTI), which has 12 clients in Iloilo and 13 in Aklan on quality product improvement. She's tapped by the Agency to help the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to improve their products so that these could reach a wider market like malls, supermarkets and even for export.
"These establishments have requirements in nutritional labeling, packaging and shelf life. That's where I go in," Posecion said.
She's also tapped by Taytay sa Kauswagan, Inc. (TSKI) as resource Person in conducting trainings for their clients so they could upgrade their skills particularly in food preparation and on product improvement.
One time, she was intrigued with an article she read about ampalaya and realized that such is abundant in Iloilo. "I thought, 'why not develop ampalaya in such a way that its nutrients are maintained. Something like a minimally processed item," Posecion told The News Today.
So, armed with her vast experience in developing food for other people, Posecion created her own product, pickled ampalaya. Mixes' pickled ampalaya has a unique taste profile compared to the commercialized pickles found in the market. She recommends the use of pickled ampalaya as a great side dish or a main ingredient in a recipe.
She likes making something different from the conventional product like her famous fruit jam, which is a combination of tomato, pineapple and mango. "This has no preservatives. I do not encourage the use of such, as much as possible," Posecion said.
Apart from her own products, Posecion promotes those of her clients in several municipalities and towns in Western Visayas. To mention a few, bottled baby milkfish, instant powdered bagoong and tropical fruit wines made from bignay, duhat, mango and pineapple.
She hopes that the Ilonggos will soon catch on with the taste that Mixes offers. "It's not that popular yet here. It's something new for them and some of the products are expensive. The products, at present, are very salable as pasalubong. We have balikbayans who purchase boxes of these products and bring them abroad," Posecion said.
Thus, Mixes, located in Villa, has become a favorite pasalubong center by those who want to find everything that the region offers in one location.
Those who make traveling to Villa tiresome, Mixes' products are available at the Weekend Bazaar at SM City Iloilo every Saturday and Sunday during mall hours.
Posecion is quite happy that her picked ampalaya is accepted even abroad. "I'm now working on the French labeling because this will be marketed in Canada. I also have a friend in Singapore who handles the distribution of this in the Asian region, like Thailand and Kuala Lumpur ."
Some of Mixes' pickled and jam products are pickled okra, pickled eggplant, tomato and pineapple jam, calamansi jelly and pickled radish.
It also sells pasalubong breads like lubid-lubid, apas, ampao (rice crispies), herb hopia, mini piyaya (ube, pandan and regular variance), kwakoy, pulceras, paborita, kinihad, milk stick bread, fruit tartlets, fruit flavored pulvoron, turones, uraro bites and spritz cookies, among others.