The Filipino way to keep cool this summer: Filipino desserts

by Janella Domingo June 29, 2022

Ice cream during hot weather is a classic but ever care for something a little different? It’s time to elevate your dessert choices this summer! There are many Filipino desserts that not only satisfy your sweet tooth but also help you keep cool in hot weather. Check out some of them!

Ice Candy: Not only is this dessert super economical, it’s easy to make and can be modified to your personal taste! My family used to own a small store and we’d make different flavours to cater to everyone. Fruit flavoured ice candies are my favourite. These included mango, melon, buko (coconut), ube (purple yam), mongo (red bean), avocado, and so on. These treats are so easy to make that you can use your imagination and create an ice candy flavour of your own. A basic instruction is blending whatever flavour you desire with a mixture of milk, condensed milk, and sugar until the blend is smooth and to your desire.

Buko Salad: The abundance of buko of coconuts in the Philippines can be seen in our many recipes that include buko! This dessert is a popular as it uses sweet young shredded coconut in a mixture of fruits. This is a popular dessert served at celebrations like fiestas and birthday parties. Like the ice candy, the ingredients are quick, easy, and can be catered to individual taste. The main ingredients are young shredded coconut, sugar palm fruit, coconut gel, fruit cocktail (canned), condensed milk, and table cream. Some people choose to ass cheese to the ingredient. It may be an interesting combination but it does work!

Buko Pandan: Like the buko salad, shredded coconuts are the main ingredient for this dessert, however, the flavour of the buko and pandan mixed together completely differs from the mixture of fruits in the buko salad. This dessert is served cold and is made up of jelly cubes, sweetened cream infused with pandan or screwpine flavour, and of course, young shredded coconut. You can also choose to add sago or tapioca pearls, kaong or sweet palm fruit, and nata de coco or coconut gel.

Halo-Halo: This dessert is arguably the most popular dessert from the Philippines! Halo-halo can be roughly translated to mean “mixed together”. Like it’s name, it contains various ingredients like sweet beans, plantain, nata de coco (coconut gel), jelly, sago (tapioca pearls), shaved ice, evaporated milk, sugar of syrup, with sweet yam, leche flan, and ice cream on top! The ingredients in halo-halo varies to cater individual taste. Personally, I love to add leche flan, red bean, pan de coco, sago, plantain, jackfruit, and jelly in my halo-halo. Another thing I like to do is not mix it too much so I can still taste each ingredient individually with each scoop. This is a fun dessert to enjoy with your family especially for those made up of loved ones with differing tastes!

Iskrambol: Ice scramble or “iskrambol” can be categorized as the Filipino version of a slushy. It’s made out of banana flavoured condensed milk and ice. It’s a popular snack amongst kids and is usually sold by vendors on the street. The newer and more refined version of this dessert now includes various toppings like marshmallows, milk powder, and chocolate syrup!

There are other desserts that we didn't cover like mais and saba con yelo, sago and gulaman (yum). These desserts are a must during the hot summer! When was the last time you had any of these Filipino iced-goodies?