Pili-made Pasalubong from Camarines

Whenever I travel from far-away places, it is customary for me to bring home some pasalubong. My trip to Camarines is no different and I also bought some pasalubong items that can be found in the area. Pili nuts are commonly found in the Bicol that is why most of the pasalubong items their made of pili.

In a previous post, I talked about pili tart that is the usual pasalubong of my Bicolano office mate whenever he go back to the office after a vacation in Bicol. I am not a fan of pili tarts that is why I did not bought any of it in Naga City. The pasalubong items that I bought are pili bar, glazed pili, pili coated with linga, and mazapan de pili.

Pili Bar

Daday's pili bar.

Pili bar is a sort of bread made of grounded pili. This is my most favorite pasalubong item that I brought from Camarines. My family and beloved liked it too and it is the pili-made pasalubong that first go missing into their mouths. Pili bar is not too sweet and this is what I liked about it.

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Brown-colore pili bar. Yum yum.

Glazed Pili and Pili with Linga

If Baguio City has peanut brittle, then Bicolandia has glazed pili. This pili-made pasalubong is made by cooking the meat of pili nut with sugar syrup until the mixture became golden brown. The Pili with Linga is cooked similarly but with the taste enhanced with linga seeds (sesame seeds).

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Sweet glazed pili nuts.

Glazed pili and pili with linga can be bought from vendors at the Naga City Bus Terminal. These pasalubong items are usually wrapped with plastic and sold to passengers at the bus terminal. If you want to buy these pili-made pasalubong items, I suggest that you haggle with vendors so you can buy them at cheap prices.

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Pili nut with seasame seeds.

Mazapan de Pili

Mazapan de Pili is a pili-made bread, like the pili bar. The difference is that it is softer and easily broken to pieces as compared with the pili bar.

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Mazapan de Pili.

I don't like the Mazapan the Pili much because it is easily broken and much of it fell to floor. I was forced to use a spoon just to eat Mazapan de Pili from its box.

I bought a lot of pili-made pasalubong during my visit to Camarines. I know that Bicolandia has more to offer when it comes to food. These pili-made sweets are preview to the other sweets and dishes that Bicolanos love. I hope that I can taste more Bicolano dishes when I return to Bicol.

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Do you want to know more about pasalubong? Read about the pasalubong items I brought from Cebu.

Wandering Around Camarines

In the previous posts, I talked about my travel from Metro Manila to Naga City by riding a Philtranco bus. The reason that I went to Naga City is that my office sent me to do some work around Camarines.

Camarines is composed of the provinces of Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur. Camarines serves as the gateway to Bicolandia because it is the northernmost area of the Region 5. The province of Camarines Sur is famous for its patroness, Our Lady of Peñafrancia, whose feast is celebrated every September. Unfortunately, I have been busy with my work around Camarines that I failed to visit the famous Basilica Minore in Naga City. The basilica is the church where the image of Our Lady of Peñafrancia is located.

I also failed to visit tourists sites around Camarines like the Lake Buhi that is famous for tabios, which is the smallest species of fish in the world. I also failed to visit the famous Caramoan Beach.

I failed to visit the famous areas in Camarines but that doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy the whole duration of my stay there. I enjoyed learning about the Bicolanos and the way of life of the people of Camarines. What I like during my visit in Camarines are scenes like this:

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The people of Camarines still enjoy the lush environment that I miss in Metro Manila. Rows and rows of farms and plantations are present in Camarines. These scenery can still be seen even in urbanized part of Camarines like Naga City.

Another scenery that I like is the sea of Camarines that is still clean as opposed to the smelly Manila Bay.

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Clean sea of Camarines. Mount Isarog is at the background.

I saw a large number of jellyfishes while I cross the San Miguel Bay from Camarines Sur to Camarines Norte. Our boatman said that catching jellyfish is one of the major livelihood in Camarines. Many fishermen catch white jellyfishes, which are dried and imported to other countries.

I feel that my visit to Camarines is incomplete because I failed to immerse my self to the culture of Bicolanos. Though my stay is brief, I managed to have a preview of what Camarines is. I wish I can go back to Naga City this September and join the feast for Our Lady of Peñafrancia.

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