Filipino cuisine is composed of the cuisines of more than a hundred distinct ethnolinguistic groups found throughout the Philippine archipelago. A majority of mainstream Filipino dishes that compose Filipino cuisine are from the food traditions of various ethnolinguistic groups and tribes of the archipelago, including the Ilocano, Pangasinan, Kapampangan, Tagalog, Bicolano, Visayan, Chavacano, and Maranao ethnolinguistic groups. The dishes associated with these groups evolved over the centuries from a largely indigenous base shared with maritime Southeast Asia with varied influences from Chinese, Spanish, and American cuisines, in line with the major waves of influence that had enriched the cultures of the archipelago, and adapted using indigenous ingredients to meet local preferences.
Halo-halo, also spelled haluhalo, Tagalog for "mixed", is a popular cold dessert in the Philippines made up of crushed ice, evaporated milk or coconut milk, and various ingredients including side dishes such as ube jam, sweetened kidney beans or garbanzo beans, coconut strips, sago, gulaman (agar), pinipig, boiled taro or soft yams in cubes, flan, slices or portions of fruit preserves and other root crop preserves. The dessert is topped with a scoop of ube ice cream. It is usually prepared in a tall clear glass and served with a long spoon. Halo-halo is considered to be the unofficial national dessert of the Philippines.
Shaved ice is a large family of ice-based desserts made of fine shavings of ice and sweet condiments or syrups. Usually, the syrup is added after the ice has been frozen and shaved—typically at the point of sale; however, flavoring can also be added before freezing. The dessert is consumed worldwide in various forms and ways. Shaved ice can also be mixed with large quantities of liquid to produce shaved ice drinks.
Shave ice or Hawaiian shave ice is an ice-based dessert made by shaving a block of ice and flavoring it with syrup and other sweet ingredients. On Hawai‘i Island, it is also referred to as "ice shave." In contrast, a snow cone, a similar American dessert, is made with crushed ice rather than shaved ice. The thin ice shavings of shave ice allow for the flavored syrups to be absorbed completely instead of sinking to the bottom. Hawaiian shave ice is derived from a similar ice-based dessert from Japan called kakigōri and thus involves similar production methods.
Maja blanca is a Filipino dessert with a gelatin-like consistency made primarily from coconut milk. Also known as coconut pudding, it is usually served during fiestas and during the holidays, especially Christmas.
Mango float or crema de mangga is a Filipino icebox cake dessert made with layers of ladyfingers (broas) or graham crackers, whipped cream, condensed milk, and ripe carabao mangoes. It is chilled for a few hours before serving, though it can also be frozen to give it an ice cream-like consistency. It is a modern variant of the traditional Filipino crema de fruta cake. It is also known by various other names like mango refrigerator cake, mango graham float, mango royale, and mango icebox cake, among others. Crema de mangga is another version that additionally uses custard and gulaman (agar) or gelatin, as in the original crema de fruta.
Samalamig, also known as palamig, is a collective term for various Filipino sweet chilled beverages that usually include jelly-like ingredients. They come in various flavors, and are commonly sold by street vendors as refreshments. Typical ingredients of the drinks include gulaman (agar), sago pearls, kaong, tapioca pearls, nata de coco, and coconut. They are usually anglicized as pearl coolers or pearl and jelly coolers.
Ube cake is a traditional Filipino chiffon cake or sponge cake made with ube halaya. It is distinctively vividly purple in color, like most dishes made with ube in the Philippines.
Ice buko, also known as buko ice candy or coconut popsicle, is a Filipino frozen dessert made from condensed milk, young coconut (buko) strips, and coconut water. It is basically a frozen version of the buko salad. They can be sold on popsicle sticks or in plastic bags as ice candy. They commonly include other ingredients like peanuts, pinipig, macapuno, pandan leaf extracts, various fruits, or sweetened mung beans. They are popular desserts during the summer and are commonly sold by sari-sari stores and sorbeteros.
Buko salad, usually anglicized as young coconut salad, is a Filipino fruit salad dessert made from strips of fresh young coconut (buko) with sweetened milk or cream and various other ingredients. It is one of the most popular and ubiquitous Filipino desserts served during celebrations and fiestas.
Iskrambol, also known as ice scramble, is a Filipino frozen dessert made from shaved ice with banana extract and evaporated milk with sugar It is then topped with a variety of ingredients including powdered milk, marshmallows, strawberry syrup, chocolate syrup, pinipig, tapioca pearls, and sprinkles, among others. The regular banana extract flavored dessert is characteristically dyed pink while other flavors may be dyed accordingly.
Ube ice cream is a Filipino ice cream flavor prepared using ube as the main ingredient. This ice cream is often used in making the dessert halo-halo.
Ube cheesecake, also known as purple yam cheesecake, is a Filipino cheesecake made with a base of crushed graham crackers and an upper layer of cream cheese and ube halaya. It can be prepared baked or simply refrigerated. Like other ube desserts in the Philippines, it is characteristically purple in color.
Queso ice cream, also called keso ice cream or cheese ice cream, is a Filipino ice cream flavor prepared using cheddar cheese. It is one of the most common ice cream flavors of the traditional sorbetes ice cream, and is commonly served on with scoops of ube, vanilla, and chocolate ice cream in one cone.
Knickerbocker is an ice cream sundae dessert from Zamboanga City, Philippines made up of various fresh fruit chunks, flavored gulaman (agar) cubes, and nata de coco in condensed milk topped with strawberry ice cream. The fruits used include mangoes, bananas, dragonfruit, papaya, honeydew melon, apples, grapes, cherries, pineapple and watermelon, among others. Sometimes vanilla or chocolate ice cream may also be used. Nuts are also sometimes added. It has sometimes been regarded as a variant of halo-halo but differs in that the knickerbocker doesn't contain shaved ice. It is most similar to the American and British sundae dessert knickerbocker glory, from which it was derived from, but also differs in the ingredients. The dish was first popularized by the Hacienda de Palmeras restaurant before spreading throughout the city.
Sili ice cream is a Filipino ice cream flavor prepared using labuyo chili, coconut milk, puréed strawberries and sugar. It was invented by the 1st Colonial Grill restaurant in Albay in 2004 and has since become a highly popular flavor. It is associated with and inspired by the regional cuisine of Bicol, which characteristically serves spicy dishes in coconut milk.
