Saturday, November 08, 2008 Dalaguete’s bibingka By Roxanne M. Catalan
“ONCE tasted, you can remember that it is one of the best,” said Dalaguete Councillor Felix Villacorta in Cebuano. He was talking about Dalaguete’s bibingka that can be bought in Dalaguete for only P5 per piece.
Dalaguete is known for being the vegetable basket of Cebu. It is also the home of many homemade products.
Bibingka is a delightful breakfast or snack that is similar to a cake, but is unique to the Philippines. Dalaguete’s bibingka is also unique from all other bibingka. It is soft, sweet, moist and white.
The bibingka industry in Dalaguete revolves around three makers and their families residing in Barangay Balud.
Genara “Nang Naring” Cisneros, 62, is the oldest and most famous bibingka maker. She started making bibingka in the 1970.
Nang Naring enumerated rice, white sugar, coconut milk, yeast and baking powder as the ingredients in making bibingka.
She begins by soaking the rice for half an hour and grinding it after. Then she mixes and stirs the rest of the ingredients.
The mixture is then poured into the moldings with cut banana leaves. These are now ready to be cooked.
Preparing the ingredients at 3 a.m. to distributing the cooked bibingka at about 9 a.m. is the daily routine of Nang Naring.
She said that Dalaguete’s bibingka is one of a kind since it is not hard compared to others. The softness is due to the grinding process. “The ground rice should be fine and not so pure,” said Nang Naring in Cebuano.
Her bibingka can also last for three days without spoiling. Another unique characteristic of this bibingka is its sweet sauce or latik, which is made of pure coconut milk and sugar. “You can find bibingka with sweet sauce only in Dalaguete,” said Nang Naring.
The feedback of those who tasted the bibingka for the first time stated that it is different, said Villacorta. This happened during the Suroy Suroy sa Sugbo tours.
“Lahi kay humok at the same time juicy (It’s different since its soft and at the same time juicy),” Villacorta quoted.
He added that another thing about their bibingka is its size. It is neither too big nor too small but just right. “It is ok to eat since it’s not that big. The bibingka of other places can have wasted portions because of their big sizes.
