### id255189857 method for making salt substitute tapyo > Since they don’t use tapyo consistently and making it is lengthy and tiring, tapyo isn’t made regularly. The Apatani instead make it during the harvest season and when needed, mainly for festivals and special occasions. > Rimung takes ash made from local shrubs such as *pepu* (similar to bamboo), banana leaves, *sarshe* (finger millet), and grass-like *tarii*, which she previously dried in the sun for several days and then burned. > She then places the ash in a conical basket filter called a *sader* and slowly pours in water, which passes through the ash and accumulates at the bottom—a process that can take from three days to two weeks. She then puts this dark filtered ash water, called *pila*, away for about three days before making tapyo. > > When the pila at the bottom starts to taste slightly less intense, she stores it separately to flavor pike pila. > After three days, it is time to make tapyo. Rimung places the pot over the hearth, adds a little liquid starch collected from boiling rice, and lets it evaporate until it creates a sheer layer that prevents the pila from sticking. She then adds pila in small portions until it dries and forms a solid block that resembles lightly colored clay. She leaves it to cool and then wraps it in palm grass and leaves it above the hearth to stay dry. She’ll take out bits at a time, primarily for seasoning pike pila. > - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fnywrzyk1qxazh4yz3504tb9) - [[The salt substitute used by the Apatani tribe in India by Lavina Dsouza#id255189857 method for making salt substitute tapyo|View in Vault]]