Ube ice cream is a Filipino

ice cream Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as Chocolate, cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food ...

flavor prepared using ube (purple yam, not to be confused with taro/purple sweet potato) as the main ingredient. The ice cream is often used in the making of the dessert

halo-halo ''Haluhalo'' is a popular cold dessert in the Philippines made with crushed ice, evaporated milk or coconut milk, and various ingredients including side dishes such as ube jam (ube halaya), sweetened kidney beans or garbanzo beans, coco ...

History

Due to its vivid violet color and mildly sweet and nutty taste, ube has been a staple of Filipino desserts, most notably

ube halaya ''Ube halaya'' or ''halayang ube'' (also spelled ''halea'', ''haleya''; ) is a Filipino cuisine, Filipino dessert made from boiled and mashed purple yam (''Dioscorea alata'', locally known as ''ube''). Ube halaya is the main base in ube/purple ...

. The earliest recorded use of ube in

was in a recipe from 1922, when ice cream's introduction to Filipino culture during the American occupation (as the local adaptation

sorbetes Sorbetes in the Philippines refers to a traditional ice cream originating in the country, uniquely characterized by the use of coconut milk and/or carabao milk. It is distinct from the similarly named sorbet and Sherbet (frozen dessert), sherbe ...

) led to new flavors like

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...

pinipig ''Pinipig'' is a flattened rice ingredient from the Philippines. It is made of immature grains of glutinous rice pounded until flat before being toasted. It is commonly used as toppings for various desserts in Filipino cuisine, but can also b ...

, and

melon A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. It can also specifically refer to ''Cucumis melo'', commonly known as the "true melon" or simply "melon". The term "melon" can apply to both the p ...

. The recipe called for mashed ube,

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

, and crushed ice. During that time, ice cream was also hand-churned in a ''garapinyera'', a manually operated ice cream mixer. Ube ice cream has risen in popularity outside the Philippines, due to its use by Filipino immigrants in restaurants (often with halo-halo) and

Trader Joe's Trader Joe's is an American grocery store chain headquartered in Monrovia, California, with 597 locations across the US. The first Trader Joe's store was opened in 1967 by founder Joe Coulombe in Pasadena, California. In 1979, the chain was s ...

line of ube products, its vivid violet color and the spread of its pictures on

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

Use in halo-halo

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Ube ice cream is a common ingredient in

, a popular Filipino dessert consisting of a mix of various ingredients, such as coconut,

sago Sago () is a starch extracted from the pith, or spongy core tissue, of various tropical palm stems, especially those of ''Metroxylon sagu''. It is a major staple food for the lowland peoples of New Guinea and the Maluku Islands, where it is c ...

, sweetened beans, slices of fruit such as

jackfruit The jackfruit or ''nangka'' (''Artocarpus heterophyllus'') is a species of tree in the Common fig, fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family (Moraceae). The jackfruit is the largest tree fruit, reaching as much as in weight, in length, and in d ...

or mango,

leche flan Leche (Spanish: "milk") may refer to: * Leche (surname) * ''Leche'' (Fobia album), 1993 * ''Leche'' (Illya Kuryaki and the Valderramas album), 1999 * ''Leche'', a 2010 album by Gregory and the Hawk * Leche frita, a Spanish sweet See also * ...

and

nata de coco ''Nata de coco'', also marketed as coconut gel, is a chewy, translucent, jelly-like food produced by the fermentation of coconut water, which gels through the production of microbial cellulose by '' Komagataeibacter xylinus''. Originating i ...

, and ube itself in halaya form. Ube is seen as an essential ingredient of halo-halo due to lending the dessert its distinctive flavor and violet color. Thus, ube ice cream may be used in place of or together with ube halaya. Since

evaporated milk Evaporated milk, known in some countries as "unsweetened condensed milk", is a shelf-stable canned cow’s milk product for which approximately 60% of the water has been removed from fresh milk. French inventor, Nicolas Appert, the "father of ...

is another essential ingredient of halo-halo, using ube ice cream as well makes for a creamier recipe.

References

External links

* {{Ice cream Philippine desserts Flavors of ice cream

Ice cream Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as Chocolate, cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food ...