Sarongsong: Alicia's Puto Version

NOT YOUR ORDINARY BITE. Here's what a sarongsong looks like. (Photo by: Rey Anthony Chiu/ PIA Bohol) 

By Rey Anthony Chiu 

TAGBILARAN CITY, BOHOL 07 March --- From one moment, you may think that there's ice cream inside this snack served to you by the locals of Alicia town. 

But after peeling off the banana leaf that wraps it, what unravels is a tasty delight that is proudly Boholano.

From its taste, one could easily tell that it is a steamed rice cake or "puto humay". But by looking at its form, it certainly is unlike the tin molded torta-like or milk-can molded puto.

What is it?

"This is sarongsong," Alicia Mayor Marnilou Ayuban explained while holding a piece of banana leaf shaped into a cone. If you peel off the leaf, it will reveal the fleshy puto humay.

"Sarongsong", apparently the only one of its kind in Bohol, is an exclusive "pamainit" (snack) product of Sitio Carangi, Poblacion Alicia, he added.

Recently however, Lolita Butcon, the cook who inherited the recipe and who kept the tradition on how it is done, has relocated to Sitio Capurao, barangay Untaga of the same town. There she accepts orders of these delectable snacks.

Served as dessert at the solidarity meal for volunteers, guests and participants of the annual mountain bike festival last February, "sarongsong" is your customary steamed rice cake.

"Puto humay", or simply "puto" is made out of powder-milled glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk and brown or white sugar over a steamer. 

Unlike the usual mold used in making puto, the sarongsong, on the other hand, uses the banana leaf shaped into a cone.

"It is a banana leaf shaped in a cone, where the mixture is poured," showed Alicia Tourism Officer Godelia Lumugdang, while talking to the press and mountain bikers.

Asked why such mold was used, a town native said it traces its history back to the time when finding tin-can molds were not that easy.

Another town native said they used this type of mold in cooking and said the banana leaves "does not ruin the taste" of the sarongsong. 

Lumugdang hopes that this delicacy may become Alicia town's official "pasalubong" for both local and foreign tourists who may come there. 

The tourism officer added that the snack may be offered to tourists as the town is setting-up the Alicia Cave Tours, which may start to cater tourist this year. (rac/PIA-7/Bohol)