I lived with my Aunt and her family in the late 1980s. They loved gardening! Well, her husband is an agriculturist. The front yard was filled with ornamental plants while the back yard had vegetables and some fruit-bearing trees. There was a time when they even cultivated the adjacent vacant lot with vines like string beans, squash, bitter gourd, sponge gourd, and the like. I dutifully watered the plants in those gardens back then, which I think I also partly enjoyed doing.
I remember my uncle once had purple yam vine in the back yard which my cousins and I excitedly harvested in time for the holiday season. There was anticipation in the act of digging and surprise in unearthing this root crop. Perhaps because pulling out one tuber would most likely lead to another and, if you’re lucky, to many more connected tubers! This harvesting task, I must say, was one of the happy childhood memories I had with my cousins.
On the other hand, the not-so-exciting task for me as a kid back then was helping out in cooking ube halaya. It was quite challenging because we had to wash the dirt from the purple yam tubers, boil the yams in a big pot, peel and grate them, and finally take turns mixing the slowly thickening mixture in a big wok over wood fire until our arms hurt. Nonetheless, kids back then almost never complained as chores were a natural part of our daily lives.
The best part was when the ube halaya (sweetened purple yam) was ready for serving. We almost could not wait for it to cool, thus ended up devouring it while it was still hot. Luckily, adults back then rarely told us to cut back on sweets. We just had to brush our teeth before going to bed which we at times missed doing either intentionally or unintentionally. 😀
Inspired by this childhood memory, I got the push to cook ube halaya lately. I know I could have just bought a ready-to-eat jar of purple yam and not tire myself from all the chores, but I wanted to do it again — just like in the old times, less the harvesting part of course. 😀
I was so happy with the results. The yams had good quality that I did not need to add food coloring anymore. And yes, I made three different variants from a single batch — classic, buko, and cheese ube halaya.
Family verdict: All were delicious, but the cheese ube halaya rocked! 😀
Many thanks for sending over some of your halaya for me to try! Super sarap. 😊 I can so relate to this story you shared. I also have childhood memories of planting and harvesting ube in our yard and preparing and cooking halaya with my family. Such happy memories!
Thank you, Janice! I’m glad you liked it and could relate with the story. We’re provincemates indeed! Haha. 😊