Five Filipino Desserts You Have to Try
Part of the fun of traveling is trying new food. And if you love sweet things, that also means walking into a whole new world of desserts!
If you're ever in the Philippines, these are some of the desserts you have to try before you leave!
Halo-halo is a shaved ice dessert that includes ingredients like milk, banana, sweet potato, jackfruit, jelly and more — with custard, ice cream and purple ube yam jam on top. Halo is a Tagalog word that means "mixture," so of course, you mix all the ingredients together with a long spoon!
Buko is the Tagalog word for young coconut, and pandan is a type of plant with large, sweet leaves. In buko pandan, shredded young coconut is mixed with cubes of pandan gelatin in a bowl of thick, sweet cream.
Turon is made from plantains that are covered in sugar, wrapped in an egg roll and then fried. If you don't use the egg roll, you can just cover the plantain in sugar and fry it, then put it on a stick — this is called a "banana cue."
Leche flan (pronounced "LETCH-eh") is a caramel custard that's served at Christmas and other special days. It's almost like a thick, sticky creme brulee, with caramel syrup on top.
Polvoron came from Spain, and it's a type of Filipino shortbread. But this cookie isn't baked — flour is fried and mixed with powdered milk, sugar and butter, then made into a shape. A box of polvoron cookies is a great snack to bring back as a gift from the Philippines!
