CHILDHOOD TREAT: SAMPALOC CANDY

I was buying pan de sal from our neighborhood bakery when I saw these treats from childhood past. Don't you just miss sampalok candy? It's a mixture of sweet, sour, and salty and we love those rock salts and the sound of plastic cellophane (it's always yellow)!

CHILDHOOD TREAT: BUKAYO

I was on an errand when I espied these being sold on the streets of Divisoria. I just couldn't resist buying some because I was too overjoyed! These are something we used to eat as children in Pampanga. Bukayo (coconut marzipan) is made by simmering strips of young coconut meat in water. Molasses or brown sugar gives them that rich, very attractive color. They are then rolled into balls and sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds (the latter are a fairly new addition, I think).

Children liked them because they can be very sweet, with the lethal combination of sugar, coconut and tosted sesame exploding in your mouth at every bite. I recall that there's another version of this - flatted into little cakes but are dry instead of moist like the ones pictured above. These were sold at Php 10 per pack of 12 pieces.