Ube Halaya (Purple Yam Preserve, the Baguio Souvenir) 🟪

Name: Ube Halaya (Purple Yam Preserve, the Baguio Souvenir)
Prep time: 36 min
Cook time: 54 min
Total time: 90 min
Yield: 2-4 servings
Cuisine: Filipino
Ingredients: 1 kg purple yam (ube), peeled and grated — or 700 g frozen grated ube, thawed; 1 cup coconut cream (or full-fat coconut milk, reduced); 1 cup condensed milk; ½ cup evaporated milk; 80 g brown sugar; 50 g butter, plus a knob for finishing; 1 tsp vanilla; pinch of salt; Toast: grated mature cheese or extra ube sprinkles to finish (optional, Baguio-style)

In Baguio, the cool mountain city, souvenir shops sell it by the jar and by the slice: ube halaya — purple yam cooked down for an hour in coconut milk, butter and condensed milk until it stops being a vegetable and becomes a fudge the color of a bruised sunset. Every Filipino birthday cake has a purple layer of it somewhere; every ice cream flavor worth its name has a version. What surprises newcomers is the patience it asks: constant stirring, then more stirring, until the spatula leaves a trail that doesn't close. It's the dessert equivalent of the province's climate — slow, cool, deep — and one taste explains why the Philippines put it on everything.

Cordillera Filipino ⏱ 90 min Medium

Method

1

Combine grated ube and coconut cream in a wide, heavy pan. Cook over medium-low, stirring often, until the cream is absorbed and the mix thickens — 15–20 minutes.
2

Add condensed and evaporated milk, sugar, butter, salt. Now the vigil begins: stir every few minutes, scraping the bottom; if it sticks, the heat is too high.
3

After 30–40 minutes the mix darkens to deep plum and a spatula trail holds its shape for two or three seconds. When it starts to sputter and pull from the pan in one glossy mass — 10 more minutes — it's done. Total cook: 50–70 minutes from this stage.
4

Stir in vanilla off the heat. Press into a greased dish or jar; smooth the top and dot with butter so a skin doesn't form.
5

It sets firm as it cools. Slice, scoop onto pandan cake, swirl into ice cream, or spread a spoonful on buttered toast — the way most of Baguio eats it in the afternoon cold.
6

Keeps 2 weeks refrigerated in a sealed jar; the color only deepens.

Comments

0/500

Ube Halaya (Purple Yam Preserve, the Baguio Souvenir) 🟪

Method

Comments

Related recipes

Manila Pork Sinigang 🍲

Tapsilog 🍳

Halo-Halo (Manila Shaved-Ice Everything Dessert) 🍧