Regional delicacies

Until Shop wise gave us the opportunity to visit their many outlets, we would not have noted the extent of regional delicacies produced all over the country. Mostly manufactured with the assistance of the Department of Trade and Industry, these regional sweets have undergone quality control, making them export-worthy. A lot are also beautifully packaged, able to withstand any damage in shipment. 

Representing Metro Manila, Allan-Sunny General Merchandizing sells bottled garlic chips, perfect as topping for plain rice. They have been able to preserve that garlic kick. They are located in Florentino, Sampaloc, Manila. Joy’s banana chips are cooked in coconut oil, thus healthier. They are located in Kalookan, tel. 962-2527.

Tsinelas is not the only product of Liliw, Laguna. There is also Golden Uraro Food Enterprises’ Sir Norman Baker Uraro, a melt-in-the-mouth sweet biscuit. Call tel. (049) 563-2628.

From Pampanga is Aiza’s Sweets, carrying a collection that includes assorted pastillas milk candy with new flavors – carrot, ube, papaya, langka and macapuno. In Orani, Bataan, Beakris House of Goodies has polvoron in different flavors – butter, chocolate, and cookies and cream. They can be reached through beakris_goodies @yahoo.com.

From Baguio, aside from ube and strawberry jams, there is Romulo’s mix of peanuts and garlic. Call (074) 446-6936. A group in Kalinga produces ground coffee, which has become very popular. Then there is Mountain Top of Marcelina Monang, selling strawberry preserves, in Timog, La Trinidad, Benguet.

Cebu is one of the more popular pasalubong centers. Magic Melt of Your Cookie Orientway Marketing is a new brand of rosquillos and otap. They have an ube-flavored variant of the latter – very crispy and with considerably strong ube taste. Cebu pioneered the production of preserved mangoes. Profood Preserves International Corporation now has preserved papaya. Shamrock stores are landmarks in this city, made so by their selection of biscuits, especially otap. Their downtown outlet’s tel. is 255-2997.

The Davaoeños have made durian more palatable, especially for those averse to eating it fresh. Tarts, pastillas, jams, jellies, yema and spreads are manufactured by the Kablon Farm Foods Corporation using santol, passion fruit, and papaya. Email [email protected]. JRC Memer Food Dealer has small bite-size “twists.” Tel. 221-2473.

Bacolod has Bong Bong’s for special otap on Araneta Street, tel. (034) 434-22626 and Davao Candy for the tiny macapuno and other variants of pastillas, tel. (082) 305-8815. Interested potential distributors can contact these enterprises.

Mixology is the system of combining beverage elements for better flavored coffee, cocktails, mojitos and other drinks. Mixologists are the ones who have been trained to put them together. They can also be considered sommeliers.

This we found out from Torani, which recently hosted a launch called Re-Mixed. We had become a regular at Torani some years back when we discovered their flavored sweeteners. With Re-Mixed, they have expanded their line to those that can be used for various beverages. This is to answer the need for “new flavors – fruits, herbs and spices – that actually enhance the liquid.” The variants are green apple, cherry lime, peanut butter, and watermelon habañera. To learn more, enroll in regular casses conducted by the Philippine Barista & Coffee Academy, tel. 570-7649.   

Happy Easter to all. The end of the Lenten Season is about resurrection and renewal. May everyone – politicians, entertainers, media, and all – revisit their moral values and have compassion, especially towards hapless children. Let us not abuse them, as is happening in our country lately.

E-mail comments and questions to [email protected].