#24: Knowing the Balicutia

I love coffee. I adoooooore coffee. Coffee is my companion when I blog, when I watch Jaime Oliver, when I eat  cookies, when I'm hanging out with my friends. It's a good thing my husband doesn't get jealous of it, hahaha! Any kind of coffee will do, whether it's instant or brewed. But if I can have my way, I prefer espresso drinks. But this is not about coffee, this is about what I happened to add to my coffee a month ago. 

It is the balicutia. I first saw this bit of ultra-sweet morsel lying around in my parents' house. If you knew my parents, they are not necessarily the experimental type when it comes to cooking so these things are more often than not, ignored. But when the Cheap Gourmet Chef laid her eyes on it, it was sure to be examined. Why not? They are these curious-looking, beige-colored things roughly packed in a plastic, nothing fancy. Apparently, it came from Ilocos and according to my unsophisticated research, they are, well, candy made from brown sugar. If you know how baby embryos look like inside the womb, then you'll know how they look like.


I really didn't know what they were then so I took the liberty to open the package, take a sniff and then take a bite.. uhm, a hard bite... Oh a really hard bite. There. I managed to chip off a part of it without chipping off my teeth. It tasted very simple. Sweet and caramelly. It melts in your mouth and has a bubbly texture. If you plan to make it your pamutat (aka dessert), just one piece should be enough to give you the sugar rush you need. Then an idea came to my mind.

Why not introduce this nice, humble balicutia candy to my coffee?


So I stashed half the package in my bag and left the other half to give my parents a chance to experience them. When I got home, I broke a piece in half and dumped it into my mug of coffee. Well what do you know?!? They were suddenly best friends. It was sooo good my husband declared that the balicutia-laced coffee should be reserved for special occasions and not for the on-the-go coffee drinking.


You should try it! Look for the native delicacy section of your grocery or look in the net for those who sell it. It will be a good addition to your coffee friends along with the hazelnut syrup and the cinnamon shaker.