PHILSPOTS.BLOGSPOT.COM

Halo-halo (shaved ice with sweetened fruits and beans, purple yam and ube ice cream) is the best dessert to take on a hot , humid summer day in the Philippines. Now I have eaten a lot of commercial halo-halo and most of these halo-halo scrimp on the fruits or the purple yam. Chow King’s Halo-halo is the best halo-halo (other than the ones served in Little Quiapo) because it is affordable and has generous servings.

Halo-halo (from Tagalog halo, “mix”) is a popular Filipino dessert that is a mixture of shaved ice, milk, and sugar, to which is added various sweet beans and fruits, and generally served cold in a tall glass.

There is no specific recipe for this dessert, and a wide variety of ingredients are used. The order in which the ingredients are added varies widely, but generally it is mixed together prior to serving. Primary ingredients include red mung beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, sugar palm fruit (kaong), coconut sport (macapuno), and plantains. Other components may include jackfruit (langka), star apple, tapioca or sago, nata de coco, purple yam (ube) or sweet potato (kamote), sweetened corn kernels or pounded crushed rice (pinipig), flan or custard, and gelatin. Other fruits, such as papayas, avocados, kiwifruit, bananas, or cherries, may also be added. Some preparations also include ice cream on top of the halo-halo.

Generally, condensed milk or evaporated milk is used instead of fresh milk, due to the tropical climate of the Philippines.