The summer months are full of town fiesta events in the Philippines. These events offer great showcases of our hospitality culture. Aside from the cultural activities, there is also a rich array of native cuisine served in almost every house in the barrio. This month we decided to go native on our desserts and snacks at least once a week to imbibe the sweet spirit of native cuisine in our meals.
The most popular native desserts in town fiestas include rice cakes, bibingka, leche flan, ube halaya, buko pandan salad, sweetened banana with sago, cassava and bucayo. These sweet endings would vary depending upon the culture of the town. Among these desserts the rice cakes wins the crown for having the most number of varieties. Just look at the rice cake stalls in the market and you’ll see why, some rice cake shops even offer different varieties packaged in one native plate or “bilao”. The most popular one is Dolor’s Kakanin that features six rice cake varieties in one “bilao”. These cakes are even popular gifts during the Holidays especially every New Year.
I still prefer to serve the homemade ones that are sold in the market. The rice cakes found in the market have the most variety of homemade ones. You just need to find the right one that suits your taste. It’s hard to choose a favorite among these native desserts but there are some that fall on our must have lists. There’s the suman, puto, kutchinta, palitaw, bico, sapin sapin, cassava, and ube halaya.
