We made several small batches of macapuno preserves yesterday in the MM household, to be shipped to Cebu and put on sale in our restaurants/outlets. It’s so hard to find a decent market sourced supply of macapuno these days, that the preserves are almost always not on offer. But last weekend I bought 24+ kilos of macapuno (threw out 5 kilos that were bad) and ended up with roughly 60 small jars of preserves. I have to test each batch after a day or two, and again after a couple of weeks, to make sure they are up to snuff, so I opened a bottle today and it was perfect… thick, gelatinous, sweet but more importantly, REDOLENT with that unique macapuno flavor. Naturally, we needed an excuse to finish the bottle…
A huge batch of minatamis na saba was freshly cooked and cooled, then add several spoons full to a tall “halo-halo” glass, topped with macapuno preserves, shaved ice and canned evaporated milk. Mix well and enjoy the sugar rush. This is similar to the version of Razon’s, though it might be a bit better with frozen shaved milk ice instead. But hands down, for pure homemade goodness, this was a real crowd pleaser, and hunger/thirst quencher. :)
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Great article! Now I’m looking for halo halo even with this cool weather….
A winning combination especially for saba lovers like me.
Lately, instead of cooking in syrup to lessen the sugar load, I have taken to just baking sliced plantains (a saba substitute) slathered with virgin coconut oil in my toaster oven at 450 F for some 8 minutes or so. The natural sugar caramelizes and fills the house with a wonderful aroma. I do this just before guests arrive and they know they are up to something good with the halohalo merienda. Friends would ask how I cooked the plantains and would ring me up for the recipe.
Still dreaming of the time and place Millet mentioned when macapuno was regarded by the copra producers as scrap.
Judging from the comments of the readership of this blog over the years, I am sure there is a community based locally and abroad that is willing and able to pay for high quality unadulterated Filipino food. Why then do Filipino producers (in general) persist in the notion that they can perpetually fob off inferior products to consumers. I mean, how many times does one have to open wishy-washy patis, yams dyed blue-black to disguise as ubi, macapuno balls made out of root crop starch, frozen and tinned vegetables that look like swill, etc before he/she recoils in horror and stop trying them. Shelves of Filipino imports here are enraging and disgraceful.
That is so true Footloose! I am sure with MM’s quality standards his macapuno bottles would have been a bestseller here in Manila……no need to ship to Cebu! :)
Our household loves halohalo with Alpine evaporated milk!
Hi MM,
Where did you get your ice shaver?
Only With Evap Milk…..yum!
lookie, we have several different ice shavers. The most simple one, from the home dept of SM, a pricier electric one from Quiapo Sin Kiang Heng (roughly PHP2000 but it is the same one that goes into our restaurants) and we have an old fashioned one from the 60’s that I also bought downtown many years ago…
I think the leche flan that Razon puts in their halo-halo is what gives it a homerun.
Ms. Connie C., thank you for sharing the baked saba recipe, i would try that.
MM, here in our small town, there is a small sari-sari store which sells halu-halo with ingredients all home made – macapuno, halayang ube, leche flan, sweetened red beans at minatamis na saging na saba at kundol. For only 25 pesos per glass. Bestseller!
Hey MM,
In some previous post you’ve mentioned going to Nasugbu. I know Batangas is a decent producer of macapuno. Just ask your suki in the market if she can refer someone. Spent my childhood in Batangas and we eat raw(uncooked) macapuno during merienda.
hi,
what is macapuno ?
and what is minatamis na saging ?
thank
u
Hi udo, macapuno is sweetened or preserved coconut sport – coconut sport are mutant coconuts that are far more meaty and gelatinous than regular coconuts. They are a freak of nature, hard to cultivate, as trees sometimes bear them, and sometimes bear normal fruit. Sweetened, they are a delicacy in the Philippines. And though I thought them indigenous to the archipelago, apparently they are not, and the fruit is also enjoyed in Thailand and elsewhere. Minatamis na saging are local plaintain bananas of the “saba variety” sweetened in brown sugar and water, sometimes flavored with cinammon, as we tend to do at home.
Here are some old posts you may wish to see and read:
Macapuno fruit
Macapuno Preserves
Macapuno Tart
Macapuno Balls/Candy
Minatamis na Saging
Minatamis na Saging (a version with coconut cream)
thanks MM !!!
haven´t encountered that “stuff” before _ UNFORTUNATELY it seems…
MM, hope you can include saba and macapuno con hielo in Zubuchon. However, I really like finely shaved ice. Does the ice shaver from SM make fine ones? Or, is it your 60s ice shaver that does it?
and I’m still waiting for the return to the grocery stores of the big bottles of sweetened macapuno balls (not the sugary, starchy ones referred to by footloose) with the soft, syrupy centers.
by the way, has anyone tried magnolia ice cream’s kesong puti flavor? it’s part of magnolia’s “the best of the philippines” line, and this flavor is made with carabao’s milk and is supposed to represent nueva ecija. it’s very creamy, not too sweet, and the kesong puti gives a slightly salty tang. my davao is represented by two flavors – coffee mangosteen and durian, both of which were much too sweet for my taste. the macapuno-langka is yummy, too.
Saging con Hielo and Razon’s Halo-halo. Kakamiss naman. :(
millet,
Magnolia’s kesong puti is absolutely yummy! The family’s new fave ice cream flavor! :)
may i know when the macapuno will be available in cebu? and which branch/es?
thanks very much.
Hi Jinggay… I am headed to Cebu for the Ironman weekend… so I hope to have some macapuno at the Escario Central branch by Saturday, August 3rd… I can only check in a box of 24 bottles or go overweight, and the other box and a half is going by boat… :)