Puto Bumbong

As Christmas is fast approaching and the air is getting a bit cooler. There is a popular snack here in the Philippines that gets more attention during this holiday season. It is a bit hard to determine when was this invented or who invented this snack. As far as I recall my grandma always bought this whenever she comes from the church. Today let me introduce to you the "Puto Bumbong".

This rice cake stall has been here for a very long time already and is a popular stall. The stall opens up around 1 pm and closes when everything has been sold out.

The stall only sold three types of rice cakes.

Bibingka

Native Philippine baked rice cake. Made from milled glutinous rice, coconut milk, sugar and margarine.

Suman sa Lihiya

Another traditional Philippine rice cake. Made from glutinous rice and lye water.

Puto Bumbong

What makes this snack very interesting is the way it is cooked. They use bamboo as a mold and then it is set upright in this specially designed steamer for the puto bumbong. The bamboo is wrapped in cloth so it can easily be removed and not burn your hands.

The ingredient is ground glutinous white rice or rice flour. Now, where does the purple color come from? Most of the stalls today use food coloring to give that famous purple color. But the authentic puto bumbong uses black glutinous rice and which gives it a dark purple color.

The bamboo tubes as filled with ground rice.

When steam comes out of the bamboo tubes it is ready.

4 pieces are arranged on banana leaves for each serving. Margarine is then spread over them.

Grated coconut is added on top.

Finally, brown sugar with sesame seeds is sprinkled over them. Muscovado sugar (unrefined sugar) was used before but now we don't see any more stalls using them.

One banana leaf serving costs 25 pesos or $.50 USD. A very small price to pay for a delicious snack.

The puto bumbong is best eaten when still hot. It is also best paired with coffee or hot chocolate milk.

This rice cake is a humble symbol of a Philippine snack. Can be enjoyed during breakfast, a dessert after meals or that afternoon coffee time.

The puto bumbong brings back a lot of happy memories. Waking up early morning during December and seeing this delicious delight on the breakfast table.

As a bonus we also bought Suman sa Lihiya. One serving also cost 25 pesos or $.50 USD.

Not much of a fan of this rice cake as my heart belongs to the puto bumbong.

But do not get me wrong this rice cake has a charm of its own. The banana leaf and lye water(lime water) give this snack its color.

You are given shredded coconut and sugar to sprinkle on top of the suman.

Time may have changed the Puto Bumbong but the spirit is still. Enjoyed by families especially in this season of love, giving, and hope.

Thanks for joining us again today for a sweet episode of Ancestral Taste. I hope you enjoyed this treat that we served you today. Please let us know what you think or if you have a similar dessert in your country.

Hope to see you again soon. Stay happy, safe and healthy.

All photos are original and taken with

Lumix GX85 and Olympus 45mm f1.8