Langka / Jackfruit Ice Candy a la Jane
The temperature in Manila has been unbearably hot during the past week or two. On some days, it feels like well over 100 F or 40 C, and even the airconditioners are straining to cool it down a little. So it seemed like a perfect time to make some fruit based ice candy with the langka (jackfruit) that we still had in the freezer. Fruit based ice candy is a classic summer time treat across the Philippine archipelago. When several tropical fruits are ripening almost all at the same time in the sweltering heat, and you have fruit flavor and sugars up the wazoo, it’s time to make ice candy. Our cook, Jane, made these yesterday and they tasted fantastic. She put roughly 1 kilo or more of langka into a food processor or blender (chop coarsely before putting into a blender unless you have a heavy duty one), a can of condensed milk and a little water if the mixture is just way too thick to pour. Pour these into little plastic ice candy bags and knot them firmly. Place in a freezer until nice and hard, in this case, it took overnight.
Once frozen, take one out of the freezer, tear open the plastic bag and start to munch. These ice candies weren’t too icy at all since they 
were chockfull of real fruit and had very little added water. Creamy, sweet and redolent with langka essence and bits, these were utterly delicious! My mom used to make these with avocados (albeit in those fancy-ish molds) and you can also use ripe mangoes as well. I suspect ripe strawberries would make good fruit-sicles as well! I asked the cook, Jane, how much these might be sold for on the street and she said just PHP3-5, but the commercially sold ones would have a lot of water mixed in. When you eat yours, just make sure you don’t eat any of the plastic bag that tends to tear if you get too rough with your ice candy…
i miss this.
April 29th, 2007Thumbs up for Jane’s ingenious idea to beat the heat and very refreshing too. Way to go Jane! Ice candy is ours and granita is to Italians born of the same concept. Must have been a gigantic langka you picked up and already gave some to your staffs.
April 29th, 2007hmmm langka ice candy. . . i’ll try it when i get back in Phil.
April 29th, 2007Ay I love ice candy lalo na kapag buco salad ice candy, mongo ice candy and ube ice candy. Yum, yum yum!!!!
April 29th, 2007women I know here in our province bought their refrigerators basically for ice candies for children and “yelo” for the men. Sideline eka nga. Oftentimes too because of the cost of commercial milk they opt to squeeze fresh gata from coconuts. I think it’s very healthy although they apologize because it’s so “low class” :-). And I my husband were given one such and it tasted delicious! Of all flavors, I like langka for ice candy the most!
April 29th, 2007Oh my, sounds very very yummy! What an ingenious way with langka! I love the fruit as it is and when it’s frozen too. But I’m gonna try this one with my blender. It’s heavy duty as it can crush ice. Hmmm…jackfruit shake(instead of condensed , maybe fresh milk or evap)???
April 29th, 2007love the condensed milk idea and this will be one of my “must do”list. Salamat,MM!
April 29th, 2007Our cook… tasted fantastic. Sorry, MM, I couldn’t help myself. :-)
April 29th, 2007TOPING, haha, obviously, I need an editor…have changed that…
April 29th, 2007oooh.. it’s ice candy!
miss ko na yan!
April 29th, 2007hahaha!! nice editing from toping…
miss ice candy.. especially in this weather…yummy!
April 29th, 2007yummy. I’m thinkin buko and buko juice would be super yummy too in the same fashion. my aunt would make buko sorbet during special occasions, in the old fashion ice cream making contraption operated by at least two men. I wonder if langka sorbet can be made in that thing? yummy.
April 29th, 2007sarap! Pati din ung avocado and buko ice candy!
April 29th, 2007Thanks for the suggestions. I will make buko and melon ice candies! Yummmm……
April 29th, 2007ice candy are definitely part of my childhood..every summer, i would put up a sign by our gate that says “ice candy for sale - 75 cents”…that was probably 15 years ago…i didn’t mind the process that i have to go through just to make the ice candy, it’s definitely all worth it! that’s my way of making my own money during summer months! Speaking of ice candy…i have to search my cupboard coz i remember i bought a few packs of the “plastic” so i can make ice candy up here. I’m so excited to make ice candy now for my daughter! :)
April 30th, 2007MM, you just made me feel 10 again! I remember when my mom bought those popsicle bags and we made them all summer. Most of them were melon-milk flavor though. I forgot about these, thanks for that memory refresher.
April 30th, 2007my god i miss this!! i used to make milo ice candy when my siblings and i were younger =) pineapple ice candy is nice too!! yummmy!!!
April 30th, 2007Recipes anyone? Are those plastic bag tubes available in California? Maybe at the chinese or asian stores? I’d love to try these for summer bbqs! Thanks!
April 30th, 2007we used to sell pineapple ice candy. it was just del monte pineapple juice and sugar. our store closed a long time ago but people still remember the ice candy. which is weird actually since our store was a pharmacy. heheh.
April 30th, 2007I absolutely love langka and I simply adore the langka from Davao— crisp, sweet and so fragrant! Friends who go to Davao hoard the usual durian and marang while I hoard my beloved langka. I eat it cold or sometimes even frozen! My eyes twinkled when you featured langka ice candy!!! I will definitely give this a try and fall into my own langka heaven. Thanks for this wonderful post!!!
April 30th, 2007Just a minor typo, “… like well over 100 F or 40 F …”. Should it be “…it feels like well over 100 F or 40 C …”?
May 1st, 2007Happyman, thanks for that! :)
May 1st, 2007We used to make ice candies made of buko meat and sago. then we’ll sell it during recess. good thing our home is just beside our elementary school. imagine my schoolmates flocking to our home to buy! instant hit! ah! the good old days :)
May 2nd, 2007We used to make ice candies made of buko meat and sago. then we’ll sell it during recess. good thing our home is just beside our elementary school. imagine my schoolmates flocking to our home to buy! instant hit! ah! the good old days :)
May 2nd, 2007You’re heaven sent, I’m currently looking for a job and to earn some money we are making ice candies (easy and good source of money too, just for the summer season) at home and I was thinking of another fruit flavor since we are only serving mango and buko ice candies. It’s good that I clicked your site. I’ll try it tom., I believe it will become and instant hit!
God Bless and more power!
April 8th, 2008