FILIPINO SNACKS

The Filipino word for ‘snack’ is meryenda, referring to something eaten between meals, in the mid-morning or mid-afternoon. For meryenda, Filipinos enjoy bread and pastries above all else. This could be in the form of pandesal — plain or manually filled with cheese, peanut butter or some other spread as a simple sandwich.

After baked goods, it is fruit and then chocolate that Filipinos love to have for a snack.

traditional Filipino snacks

Kakanin are traditional rice delicacies like puto and kutsinta.

Tsitsirya are thought of as junk food in the Philippines. Examples of favorite Filipino tsitsirya: corn chips and cheese curls.

Pulutan are snacks or finger food that Filipinos eat when drinking beer or liquor.

Baon is the packed lunch or snack Filipinos bring to school or work or when traveling.

Banana Chips, Cakes, Candies, Chicharon, Chips, Chocolates, Cookies, Corn Snacks (kornik), Crackers, Fish Snacks, Fruits, Hopia, Jelly Gummies, Dried Mangoes, Pandesal, Pinoy Biscuits, Seed Snacks (watermelon and squash seeds), Wafers like Jack n Jill’s Hello, Peanuts (adobong mani), Paborita, Pilipit, Otap, La Pacita Prima Toast, Pasencia, Mamon Tostada, Rosquillos, Bingo, Oishi Pillows, Egg Cracklets aka Galletas…

A popular brand of crackers in the Philippines is Skyflakes (particularly the chocolate flavor and the more recently formulated sweet-milk Condensada flavor). There’s also Fita!

You can buy Filipino snacks like Boy Bawang, Chippy corn chips in Garlic & Vinegar flavor, Ilocos Chichacorn, Leslie’s Clover Chips ham&cheese, Nagaraya adobo cracker nuts, Sunflower Crackers, Dried Mangoes and Chiz Curls on Amazon. #CommissionsEarned

TSAMPOY

Commonly spelled as champoy, rarely as sampóy.

Tsam·póy is a popular Chinese sweet in the Phlippines. It is made from the Myrica rubra fruit called yangmei, which has also been called Chinese bayberry or Chinese strawberry. The raw fruit at its prime is a briliant red (see photo below), but the preserved fruit that is sold as a treat is dark brown to black in color. Each fruit has a single seed in the center.

The origin of the name may somehow be related to Chenpi (陳皮), which in Hong Kong is transliterated as Chanpui and literally means “citrus peel.” A popular Cantonese sweet is called Chanpuimui (陳皮梅 or “tangerine-peel plum”).

The Difference Between Champoy and Kiamoy? →

BUKAYO

Bukayo (spelling variations: bocayo, bucayo, bucaio, bokayo) is dried-coconut candy.

Its color is light to dark brown and its chewiness can range from soft to hard enough to give your jaws a tough workout.

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TIKOY

Tikoy word origin: Filipino adaptation of the Hokkien Chinese words: ‘ti’ and ‘ke’ which mean sweet and cake.

Tikoy is the most popular treat during Lunar New Year festivities in the Philippines, as iconic as the Chinese New Year’s cake nian gao is in other countries. In fact, it is likely based on the nian gao of southern China from where Fukienese immigrants to the Philippines came.

WHAT IS TIKOY?

Or… how is tikoy made?

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AMPAW

ampaw: puffed grain (rice or corn), often glazed with sugar after puffing

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KASUY

Spelling variations: kasoy, casuy, casoy

kasuy
cashew

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Top 10 Filipino Street Food

Top 10 Filipino Goodies You Can Buy in the Streets of the Philippines?

1. Kamote-cue is sweet potato that’s coated with brown sugar and deep-fried in oil; several large pieces are served on a thin bamboo skewer.

Kamote-cue and Banana-kyu — Picture of kamote-que and banana-q

2. Banana-cue is saba (a fat cooking variety of banana) that’s coated with brown sugar and deep-fried in oil; one large one or two small bananas are served on a skewer.

3. Kwek-Kwek are hard-boiled quail eggs coated with batter and then deep-fried. Tokneneng is the term when chicken eggs are used.

4. Fish balls are round, airy fish-flavored dough deep-fried in oil and then skewered on a stick. Various dipping sauces are provided. Squid balls and chicken balls are recent variations.

. Continue reading “Top 10 Filipino Street Food”

Filipino Candy

The Filipino word for “candy” is kendi, from the English, but this usually refers to Western-style hard, semi-hard, and soft candies.

Branded candies that can be considered vintage or classic Filipino: Bobot Candy-Coated Peanuts, Candyman Kendimint, Jack n Jill X.O. Coffee Candies, Viva Caramel, Nuts Caramel, Lipps Strawberry, Starr Eucalyptus Menthol (the candy formerly known as Storck), Orange Swits, Peter’s Butter Ball, Mikmik, King’s Chocnut, Hany, Ricoa’s Curly Tops, Ricoa’s Flat Tops, Stay Fresh, Maxx Honey-mansi Menthol Candy, Potchi Strawberry Cream Gummies, Nips Candy-Coated Chocolate

Tropical or Southeast Asian flavors used for Filipino candy: ube (purple yam), langka (jackfruit), mangga (mango), kundol (wintermelon)

Aside from sugar-glazed pili nuts, here are examples of local Philippine sweets and their notable ingredients in parentheses: Yema (egg yolks), Bukayo (coconut), Pakumbo (coconut), Sampalok (tamarind)

The native Tagalog word minatamis refers to “sweetened” fruits, such as bananas or jackfruit stewed in sugar syrup.

Peanut Kisses & Peanut Fingers: Filipino Candy from Bohol

A few regions of the country are known for their particular confectioneries. Foremost among these is Bohol province. As soon as you mention Bohol to a Filipino, the first thing that pops to mind are the Chocolate Hills geographical formation, and not far behind are Peanut Kisses and perhaps their slightly lesser cousins, the Peanut Fingers.

Durian Candy of Davao — Lola Abon’s Original Durian Candy

The great Davao area on the large island of Mindanao in southern Philippines is famous for the wide variety of fruits that are mostly found only there. Among these fruits is the odoriferous durian.

Lola Abon’s is a brand that has national recognition. Her family and company have been making durian candies since the year 1950.