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Ube Halaya

It was during a get together that I tasted this rich and delicious ube haleya. Inday Hami (of ILoveIloilo) brought it just for the occasion and ever since then we at the party can't help but rave and crave about it. Not until I reposted the photo of this ube haleya on Facebook that I knew of it's popularity among my readers that I seek Inday Hami's help in contacting the haleya maker and to make it even more helpful I am reposting her blog article on this ube haleya.

written by Inday Hami of ILoveIloilo

Halaya/haleya is actually more popular in Luzon. Also Bohol, they have this but with a different name. Heritage worker, Gardi revived his lola’s recipe for this ube dessert and makes it avaiable to visiting friends and tourists.

Although born in Tapas, Capiz, Mommy stayed long in Manila. I think that’s where she perfected her ube halaya. Now that she’s back in Panay, she decided to start her simple home-based business (on a per order basis) by concentrating on three items: ube halaya , lecha flan (just as delicious, just how traditional leche flan should be), & bangus relleno .

Naive that I was about ube halaya, I really thought Mommy put coloring to make it a rich violet. But it turns out, it was actually the natural color of the ube they chose: the TAPUL variety.
During peak season for orders, she sacrificed profit for insistence on quality. Her suki ube vendor at Super mixed some ordinary ube (the white ones) with her tapul order. When she and her son assistant reached home and discovered this, Mommy refused to use the white ube. They had to buy additional tapul–this time from an honest vendor.

Mommy also told me that to cut down costs, other halaya makers put in gabi or palawan instead and simply add food coloring. Some also put ground pilit or sticky rice.

Mommy’s ube halaya is basically just a combination of ube, condensed milk and egg yolks. But the secret is in the proportions, the right heat, the manner of mixing (I suppose) and most especially, the insistence on only the best ingredients.


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