The purple yam or “ube” in the Philippines is one of the most delectable ingredients used for dessert. This delicious and nutritious root crop could be made into jams or cakes mixed with other well-known dessert ingredients like the “macapuno” or coconut sport.

The most popular ube recipe is the dessert called “halaya” which is the Filipino version of the purple yam jam. The following is the ingredients and cooking instruction for this luscious dessert.

Ingredients:

• ½ kg.  boiled ube, peeled and mashed till consistent in texture
• 1 regular can condensed milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla root extract
• ¼ cup butter

Cooking instruction:

• Melt the butter in a heated cooking pot over medium fire.
• Put in the condensed milk little by little while stirring to blend well with the melted butter.
• Mix the well-mashed ube portion by portion, stirring continuously to perfect blending with milk-butter mixture.
• Add the vanilla root extract while stirring constantly over low fire for about 20 minutes until the mixture thickens.
• Put the thick ube mixture to a nicely shaped container to cool it down.
• Place it in the refrigerator for faster solidification and cooling for no less than 2 hours.
• Gently remove the halaya dessert from the mold and serve it on a platter.

The key to the more delectable texture of the halaya is the non-stop stirring over low fire until the mixture consistently thick. Molding containers usually come in fish or fruit shapes which give the halaya a more inviting look when finally served on a nice platter.

For the ube cake dessert, the most famous ube recipe is the one mixed with the coconut sport or macapuno. The ingredients for the ube-macapuno cake are as follows:

Ingredients

• 2 ½  cups of flour used for baking cakes
• 1 cup boiled ube, peeled and mashed till consistent in texture
• ¾ cup whole milk
• ½ cup corn syrup
• ½  cup corn oil
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon iodized salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla root extract
• 7 egg yolks, separated from the egg white and beaten lightly
• 7 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 cup refined sugar
• 6 drops red food color
• 6  drops blue food color
• 1  jar macapuno (coconut sport)
• 1 cup evaporated milk, chilled
• ¾ cup white sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 drop violet food coloring

The lusciousness of fruits is an asset in their natural freshness but it also turns out to be a liability in keeping them from spoiling. The reason for this is the water in the fruits’ own juice is what attracts microbes and causes them to thrive and multiply in the fruits during the process of decay.

Thus the process of making fruit jams was discovered in order to preserve the fruits so that people would still enjoy them long after the season harvest. The heat brought about by the boiling process together with the addition of large amounts of sugar is intended to keep bacteria and fungi from growing in fruit jams.

A layer of paraffin wax is usually placed on the fruit jam’s surface to keep molds away especially when the jams are prepared at home without chemical preservatives. The natural ingredients for jam being organic are prone to attract microorganisms which make it necessary to take all possible natural precautionary measures to optimize fruit preservation.

When fruits are boiled in water with sugar, a gelatin-like substance results due to the mixing of fruits acidic juices with its natural pectin. Pectin is a fibrous substance generated from the fruit flesh during the cooking process.

Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, grapes and apples are known to be full of the pectin soluble fiber but the other soft fleshed fruits like peaches and apricots do now have it as much. In such cases, natural pectin has to be added with these kinds of fruit jams.

The same would be needed when preparing low-sugar content fruit jams that result in less acidic, low calorie jams. The natural sweet juices concentrate of the fruits are added in place of the sugar with some starch to produce the needed thickness of the fruit jam.

While jams preserve the fruits and their natural flavors, a great deal of the natural vitamins and minerals are lost in the process of heating. The only health-valuable ingredient left in fruit jams is the pectin fibers that are known to reduce cholesterol levels in the blood.

This cholesterol reducing substance though is somehow neutralized in health value by the rich sugar content of fruit jams that could very well increase blood sugar levels when consumed frequently in great amounts. However, the simple sugar content and other energizing ingredients for jam could quickly provide the needed invigoration of the body especially when engaging in rigorous activities such as hard work and energetic sports.

When you see dessert, cakes or pastries in the Philippines that is violet in colored, then in all probability it would be made from the Filipino purple yam locally known as “ube”. While belonging to the same family as the American purple yams, the Filipino ube is actually much darker in its violet colored skin and perhaps richer in flavor, too.

The most popular Filipino dessert made from this rich Filipino tuber is a jam called “halayang ube.” This famous violet-colored dessert in the Philippines is prepared by boiling the ube tubers until they are soft and then mixing the peeled and mashed ube with white sugar, evaporated milk, condensed milk and butter.

This luscious mixture is stirred over low fire until it thickens and placed in containers of different shapes and designs to harden. They are later served on dessert plates in creative shapes and presentations or otherwise stored in bottles as yam jams.

As a violet colored food like grapes, sugar beets and purple sweet potato, the ube would contain the substance responsible for its purple skin color called anthocyanin. This is an antioxidant that is known to fortify your body’s immune system and prevent cell deterioration.

This makes the Filipino ube, not just a sought-after dessert, but also a health enhancing food. The vitamins, minerals and fibers contained in this substantially rich tuber provide the body’s need for protecting its cell membranes that keeps undue cancer development especially in the areas of the mouth, throat and the lungs.

For a healthier preparation, it would be better to simply boil the ube which is more of the process that activates its antioxidant substances. The process of steaming it for less than ten minutes is even better in that this gentler procedure keeps the vitality of the antioxidant ingredients while also preserving the pure and natural tuber flavor.

For the real vegetarians, it would not be even necessary to garnish it with nutmeg or cinnamon as others do to enhance its taste. According to research, vegetarians are much less prone to cancer than carnivorous people especially when they regularly take in foods that have high antioxidant contents like the purple colored foods including the ube.

Purple yams like sweet potatoes have also been discovered to enhance the detoxifying functions of the kidneys, spleen and the pancreas. Their rich mineral contents have been proven to catalyze the body’s metabolism and so empower the kidneys for a more efficient disposal of toxins from your system.

With the powerful combination of delicious flavor and health benefits, anyone would find himself in a real total treat when munching the Filipino purple yam called ube.

It used to be just a summer delight sold as a refreshing sweetened snack on the side streets of the Philippine countryside. Now, you can have it all year round available in mall fast food courts and even in classy Filipino restaurants.

It is known as the “king of Filipino desserts”, not just because of its lusciously fascinating icy sweetness, but also because it reflects the exquisite blend of the variety of Filipino cultures and personalities. It’s called the “halo-halo” rightly translated as “mix-mix” because the Filipino people are indeed a beautiful and succulent mixture of flavors and colors.

Halo-halo is best prepared by slightly overcooking the fruits and beans ingredients separately in water with enough sugar to deliciously sweeten. Overcooked starchy ingredients make the halo-halo really creamy instead of watery when thoroughly mixed with the milk and the ice. For better creaminess, it would be best to use condensed milk instead of evaporated milk.

The pre-cooked and adequately sweetened ingredients include the cooking banana (saba), jackfruit (nangka), sweet potato (camoteng baging), purple yam (ube), coconut sport (macapuno), coconut gel (nata de coco),  palm fruit (kaong), white beans, small red beans and colored tapioca and gelatin to enhance the desserts aesthetic quality.

Freshly scraped fruits like melon and the young coconut (buko) could better be added for a taste of fresh fruit flavor. This mixture of sweetened overcooked ingredients accented by thick threads of fresh fruits and condensed milk when topped by shaved ice, caramel custard (leche flan) and a scoop of ice cream makes the halo-halo truly the king of Filipino desserts.

In spite of the known difference between yam and sweet potatoes, you would still hear some people ask with some degree of confusion “Is that yam or potato?” While they may look similar to some when included in some food recipes, they differ in color in that sweet potatoes are yellowish orange while yams are fleshy pale.

In terms of calorie content, sweet potatoes are higher compared to yams and that half a pound of it contains 200 calories compared to yam’s 150 calories. Both are considered as highly nutritious with the sweet potato running much more fortified with health enhancing nutrients compared to yams.

Sweet potatoes and yams are both quite rich sources of carbohydrates with sweet potatoes providing 45 grams and yams 40 grams for half a pound of serving. Their substantial carbs content richly supply the body’s need for energy.

While rich in carbohydrates, both root products have very low fat contents. This makes the consumption of these foods quite safe for people with heart conditions and weight concerns. Both sweet potatoes and yams contain no more than 0.5 grams of fat for every half a pound of serving.

Both tubers are lush suppliers of fiber with sweet potatoes providing 7.5 grams and yams 5 grams per serving. Fiber helps a lot with the digestive process and catalyzes weight loss quite effectively. It is also a nutrient known to prevent the development of cancer cells.

Like other plant products, both sweet potatoes and yams are not rich sources of protein and amino acids required for tissue restoration and muscle development. Half a pound of sweet potatoes contain only 5 grams of protein while yams are even lesser with only 2 grams.

When it comes to vitamins content, sweet potatoes superior outranks yams in providing 270% of the body’s vitamin A requirement per day while yams are only at 1% per serving. Vitamin A is not only good for the eyes but also in keeping the skin healthy.

Sweet potatoes supply as much as 50% of the body’s daily need of vitamin B, vitamin C, pantothenic acid and thiamine while yams only up to 25% maximum. Vitamin B, pantothenic acid and thiamine helps in food metabolism resulting in healthier cells while vitamin C works in healing wounds and restoring injured tissues.

In reference to the body’s daily need for minerals like copper and potassium, sweet potatoes supply up to 50% per cup of serving while yams only at 20%. Copper helps in synthesizing nutrients that makes the blood and the skin healthy while potassium facilitates contraction of the muscles and production of energy.

Having seen superiority of the sweet potatoes’ nutritional value compared to yams, you now know better what to choose between yam or potato of the sweet kind for better health enhancement beyond mere palatal satisfaction.

Milk is one of the most common ingredients in many palatable cuisines and desserts. More than the fresh or powdered milk, many cooks prefer to use evaporated and condensed milk nowadays. Evaporated milk is used mostly in salted recipes of meat, poultry, fish, vegetables and soup while the condensed milk is used for desserts because of its creamy sweetness.

For more than a century now, both types of milk have predominantly taken the place of fresh milk in culinary use. The reason for this is due to their being less prone to bacterial contamination and user-friendly in terms of healthy avoidance of food germs.

Evaporated milk, as its name implies, is a milk product with approximately 60% of original water content eliminated through an evaporation process. It then goes through homogenization while adding stabilizers and vitamins after which it is canned and sterilized.

Condensed milk, on the other hand, goes through the similar process of removing 60% of its milk water content with lesser need for further sterilization due to the substantial amount of sugar added. Its 45% sugar content has the capacity to prevent the growth of microbes the reason why it does not require the same degree of sterilizing compared to evaporated milk.

There are chefs today, however, who still go by the use of the more naturally pure coconut milk in their cooking. Not only do they consider coconut milk as a source of a more vegetarian luscious milk flavor but they also prefer its greater nutritional and health value than dairy milk products.

Coconut milk is found to be richer in vitamin and mineral contents which include the calcium, potassium and chlorides needed by the body. Its lipid contents are made up of short and medium-chain fatty acids that are easily metabolized by the highly energized body.

Even with a considerable fat content, it would still be capable of catalyzing weight loss due to its fatty content’s ability to be easily broken down and burned compared to other types of saturated fats. One of its most health beneficial fat ingredients is the lauric acid, the nutrient contained in lactating mother’s milk responsible for developing strong bones and sharp brains.

Coconut milk is also known to be a potent fighter against of virus, bacteria and other disease casing germs. It is capable of increasing the body’s resistance against common virus-cause illnesses like colds and influenza.

Medical researchers of today are counting on the potential of coconut milk to provide the virus-fighting ingredients that could ultimate combat HIV. If it has the capability now of preventing cancer, then coconut milk could very well gain triumph over other deadly diseases such as AIDS.

Without unnecessarily depreciating the value of one over the other, a well-meaning chef could better consider combining the health-nutrient rich coconut milk with the delectable flavors of evaporated and condensed milk in order to come up with an undefeatable blended taste of delectable foods and desserts.