Pilinut Candy

One of the small reasons why I love my work is that officemates often bring "pasalubong" from different islands of the Philippines.

The Pilinut candy is the OTOP of Albay. OTOP refers to the One Town One Productprogram of the government. Through the said program, cities and municipalities identify and help develop a specific product or service (like local delicacies). Unfortunately, the OTOP program is now unfunded. :(  Now enough of politics for a while. Here's another photo:

According to Wikipedia:The Pili nut (Canarium ovatum) is one of the 600 species in the family Burseraceae.

Although they are grown as ornamental trees in many areas of the Old World tropics of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, only the Philippines produces andprocesses pili nuts commercially. Production centers are located in the Bicol region, provinces of Sorsogon, Albay, and Camarines Sur, southern Tagalog, and eastern Visaya. There is no commercial planting of this crop, fruits are collected from natural stands in the mountains near these provinces.

The Department of Agriculture - Bicol was nice enough to have recipes of Pili delicacies.

PILI CHOCOLATE CRUNCH
Ingredients:
½ kilo pili nut
1 kg. chocolate premium
Procedure:
1. Toast the pili nut in an oven at low temperature.
2. Cool and set aside.
3. Melt the chocolate bar in a double boiler.
4. Distribute the nuts in moulders.
5. Pour the melted chocolate while hot to coat the nuts.
6. Place the mixture inside the freezer for a few minutes or until the moulder becomes cloudy.
7. Unmold
8. Wrap using chocolate wrapper.
9. Pack and store.
PILI TART
Ingredients:
Crust Filling
1 kilo ordinary flour ½ kilo ground pili
2 bars fresh butter 1 can condensed milk
1 cup sugar 1 cup sugar
1 cup cold water
Packaging Material: Colored cellophane
P.E. Plastic
Procedure:
1. Measure ingredients needed for crust and filling.
2. In a bowl combine sugar and flour, with a pastry blender or two knives, cut in fresh butter until it is the size of small peas.
3. Add cold water a little at a time, moving to the side the pieces of dough as they hold together.
4. Form into balls. Roll each ball into 1/8 inch thick.
5. Press dough to shape of tart. Prick sides and bottom.
6. Bake for 20 minutes.
7. In another bowl, combine condensed milk and sugar. Mix well.
8. Fill up baked crust tart top with sliced pili.
9. Bake until golden brown.
10. Let cool before wrapping, pack.


PILI KISSES (Note: I personally love this one)
Ingredients:
1 cup pilinut-roasted
2 pcs. egg white
½ cup refined sugar or confectioner sugar
¼ tsp. cream of tartar
Procedure:
1. Grind the pilinut.
2. Separate the eggwhite from the yolk.
3. Beat eggwhite till fluffy.
4. Mix cream of tartar.
5. Continue beating until mixture form bubbles or foam.
6. Add sugar gradually while beating the mixture. Beat until stiff foam is formed.
7. Add the ground pilinut and fold the mixture.
8. Place small cones in baking sheet.
9. Bake for 40 minutes at 135 degree Fahrenheit.
10. Cool and pack.More recipes here.