When I was in the Philippines doing a test drive of Ford’s EcoSport SUV, we stopped at Susie’s Cuisine in Pampanga. It reminded me of a delicatessen back here in Australia, with a host of gourmet and interesting foods.
We tried a popular drink in the Philippines called Halo-Halo, which essentially means mix-mix. The idea is you throw different ingredients in a tall glass, add ice and milk, and then mix-mix away. It’s a social drink, where people take a break from the humidity, and slowly make their way through a tall drink, mixing the flavours in the glass as they chat; it’s part of the process. Halo-Halo is very sweet and cold. Below are the ingredients I used in the Philippines.
Saging Saba: frozen banana
Aleya (Halaya) Ube: A purple dessert made from purple yam
Macapuno: Chewy, soft coconut meat
Aleya (Halaya) Gatas: Which I think means “milk jelly” which tasted like condensed milk to me.
Leche Flan: Similar to crème caramel dessert (you can see it pictured below in my cup)
Minatamis Na Beans: A sweet white bean mix
Crushed Ice
Milk
Below is a 30 second video of making Halo-Halo in the Philippines.
I knew this would be a fun concept to do with my own kids. I found the Philippine version to be too sweet for my tastes, but used the concept to create our own Mix Your Own Drink activity. The kids ABSOLUTELY loved it and tried many different combinations.
Ingredient Selection
- Frozen Bananas
- Mango Puree
- Blueberries
- Raspberries
- Coconut
- Fresh Ginger Pieces
- Mint Leaves (from our garden)
- Watermelon
- Lemon/Lime
- Ginger Cordial
- Lime Cordial
- Passionfruit syrup
- Crushed Ice
- Sparkling Water
These small mason jars are available from Kmart for 75 cents by memory. They are a good size for this activity because it’s easy to try different flavour combinations. Below is an example of how to build a drink.
Add
ice -> raspberries -> mango puree -> coconut -> lime -> blueberries -> mint leaves -> sparkling water
The kids loved the flavoured cordial and added fruit too.
This was a massive hit at our place, and a fun idea for family fun night, birthday parties, celebrations of weekend activity.
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