Isn’t it mouth watering? In the Philippines, we call it halo-halo (from tagalog word halo which means “mix”). It is the popular native dessert among Filipinos specially on summer season. Why? Because Philippines is a tropical country and we have lots of fruits in season all year round. There’s no specific recipe for halo-halo, its a mixture of boiled sweet beans and fruits in season with crushed ice and milk. There’s a wide variety of ingredients Filipino entrepreneurs used. You can buy them anywhere in the Philippines. I happened to be the kind of person who wanted to try specialty food from every place I’ve been.

A typical halo-halo consists of boiled red mung beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, sugar palm fruit (kaong), coconut sport (macapuno), jackfuit (langka), tapioca (sago), nata de coco, ube jam, sweet potato (kamote), corn kernels, rice crispies (pinipig), banana, avocado, papaya. A special order of halohalo may have a scoop of ice cream, a slice of leche flan and ube jam on top.

I could say that the best halo-halo I’ve tasted in my life is the picture above. The ingredients are red gelatin, boiled sweet bananas, sweet corn kernels, tapioca (sago) topped with crushed ice, leche flan, ube jam and lots of grated cheese. It looked simple and few ingredients but after tasting it, you’ll crave for another order. I don’t know if I could have another taste of it since the cafeteria is in Tiwi, Albay, Bicol. I’m in Manila now. Whew! Imagine, my mom who lives in Bicol almost all her life haven’t try the halo-halo in Tiwi. I am lucky!
DJC Halo-Halo is beside Tiwi Municipal Hall… Tiwi, Albay, Bicol, Philippines.