Kolo & Latik / Breadfruit with Coconut & Palm Sugar Sauce

kolo1

None of the information regarding the breadfruit in the previous post was known to me when this vegetable/fruit was foisted on me as a pre-teen. On trips to my mother’s ancestral hometown in Bohol, kolo2we used to have to make the rounds of every major home on the main street in the days after we arrived. It was explained to me that we had to greet everyone and make polite conversation, spending at least an hour in each home. On any given afternoon we would visit perhaps 3-4 homes and at each home I distinctly recall being served a merienda of fried breadfruit with latik, a sweet sauce made with coconut milk and brown sugar or panocha (palm sugar). While it tasted pleasant enough, having it four times in one day and for several consecutive days meant you rapidly dreaded the local delicacy. As a result, I don’t think I have eaten any breadfruit in the past 30 years.

Fast forward to last week and the heavily laden humongous breadfruit tree behind our kolo3family’s offices in Cebu, and I decided it was time to have another go at breadfruit. Simply peel the tough but relatively thin skin off the fruit, exposing the creamy white flesh that should still be rather firm if you have picked it at the right stage of maturity. Slice it into four and remove the center area where you would normally find seeds in a fruit and slice it thinly either lengthwise or crosswise, depending on your preference. If you want crunchy chips, you may want to dry the sliced breadfruit outdoors in the hot sun for an hour or two. I like them just fried straight away so they have a crunchy skin and a softer flesh.

Next heat up some vegetable oil and fry the breadfruit until it has a light tinge of gold. kolo4It is actually cooked even before it browns a little but I like the appetizing color that comes with another half minute or so cooking. They looked great…so much more appetizing than French fries, in my opinion. You may want to drain these on paper towels before serving though I find that very little oil soils the towels… Serve this with a latik that is made by cooking some coconut milk with panocha (palm sugar) until it is thickened or if you like a darker latik, make it with dark muscovado sugar instead. This was one fantastic looking snack. Even better, it tasted absolutely great – a bit of sweetness, a lot of starch, it had faint shades of kamote but a nicer, lighter flavor. I can’t believe I haven’t had any for 30 odd-years. I will definitely have this again in the near future…

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13 Responses

  1. They look as golden as lobes of langka. Would you not feel inclined to just sprinkle sugar on them half-way through frying and let it caramelized just like banana or camote-cue?

  2. “However, it turns out that many Filipinos are not familiar with the tree”- yes you’re right. There was also a tall kolo just outside my lolo’s house. They just ignored the fruit, di nila alam kung ano ang gagawin don. Tapos ang taas taas pa ng puno para kunin lang ang bunga. So wala lang. Ma-try nga fried kolo…… hmmm….

  3. That is just the perfect color and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside is ideal for me. I can almost taste it.

  4. Apicio, on your comment we actually tried your proposed version but it seems the sugar doesn’t like to stick to the fried breadfruit in the manner of kamote or banana. It sounds like a good idea but it looked a bit like breadfruit chips with sugar blobs that looked like cow spots…heehee. It was worth the try. I suppose this is good with just plain sprinled sugar as well. teth! Sayang your breadfruit, try and fry some the next time it’s blooming…you will be amazed. Millet, surprisingly, I am still managing to lose some teeny weeny amount of weight so far…heehee. Breadfruit spoils quickly so perhaps that’s why it rarely makes it to markets, besides the fact that it is totally abundant when it ripens and everyone in the neighborhood can be fed from one tree!

  5. it’s funny… all these years i wanted to know what a breadfruit looks like, only to find out now that we have one growing in the backyard. hahhaha, thanks MM.

  6. you know, for someone living in antipolo (which supposedly takes its name from the fruit), i have no idea what this fruit’s all about. thanks for sharing info on it. would ya know where in the metro it can be bought?

  7. this really reminds me of my childhood. bilib talaga ako sa ‘yo on how massive is your food experiences. pati kolo alam mo.

    anyway, ours is a boiled version, peeled, then sliced and dipped in brown sugar. though this fruit has this distint smell others won’t like it but if you’ll get used to it. it’s like an exotic fruit hahhaha

    p.s. the once huge kolo tree in our neighbor had long-been uprooted by typhoon so my younger cousins no longer have an idea what this breadfruit is all about.

  8. Panocha is not palm sugar. It is cane sugar (mascobado unground). Palm sugar is lighter in color and is easy to shave

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