Heavenly fill of Negros 'piaya'

By Carla Gomez Inquirer BACOLOD CITY--Negros’ muscovado sugar, which is gaining popularity in the growing health-conscious global market, is synonymous with those mouth-watering pastries only its people can make best. The dark brown, slightly coarse, unrefined sugar, which still contains the minerals and vitamins originally found in sugarcane, has a pleasant bitter-sour taste from molasses not found in regular sugar, says pastry reinventor Millie Kilayko. It is also this sugar that makes Negrense pastries delightfully different, bringing back memories of the old days of leisure and long lunches. Carrying on the tradition of making muscovado-laced pastries are second cousins Maritess Sanchez of Silay City’s famous El Ideal and Kilayko of Casa Carmela in Bacolod City. Both come from old Silay families who have a reputation that revolves around delicious meals capped by desserts. Sanchez and Kilayko also live in the homes they have known since birth, and their factories are just a flight of stairs down their living quarters. Sanchez has chosen to remain close to her workplace to continue the family business that was passed on to her -- along with all its original recipes. Kilayko finds her proximity to her factory the best assurance to meet the best manufacturing practices, especially sanitation. “As I take my daily 30-minute walk around my garden, I can poke my eyes into the work site and check on the way it is cleaned before the rest of the workers come in,” Kilayko said. Handed-down traditions Sanchez’s and Kilayko’s links with the past are perhaps the reason they have a devotion to “perpetuate” the recipes of old. Sanchez said her grandfather, Cesar Locsin, together with his two sisters began making cookies before going solo by starting El Ideal Bakery on Rizal Street. El Ideal, for three generations, has been the place where travelers buy the deliciously sweet pasalubong items for friends. Locsin passed on the business to Sanchez’s mother, Alicia Locsin Villanueva, who, in turn, passed it on to her. Many of El Ideal’s sweets are made with muscovado sugar that the growing health conscious population sees as a healthier option, she said. Among the products are its golden brown angel cookies made from cuttings of hosts served during communion, high-fiber “muscobite” cookies made with wheat flour, guava-apple pies, butong-butong (chewy sugar nougats) candies, and “musco bars” similar to butterscotch. And, of course, the star of the delicacies is the “piaya” still made the way Sanchez’s grandfather made it three generations ago. Kilayko, on the other hand, has a passion for creating new products using the personalities of the old and traditional, innovating from what has been handed down to present generations of cooks, and changing these into something fresh before handing them over to the next generation. Last year, Kilayko introduced her version of the “piaya” -- crisp, light and thin, unlike the original piaya that has a thicker layer of muscovado sandwiched in it. While the new product gives one’s palate only a delicate flavor of muscovado sugar between fine layers, it still carries the personality of the one prepared by generations of cooks before her. Inspired by the success of her reinvention, Kilayko introduced bite-size “piaya,” which she calls “piayito,” and healthy versions using whole wheat. Casa Carmela’s crisp and thin “piaya” also come with different personalities: tropical (mango, banana and ube), gourmet (after-dinner dark chocolate with mint, cinnamon and espresso), cocktail (low salt, pesto and country herb) and low sugar (a blend of muscovado sugar and Splenda). However, the ones with muscovado sugar filling -- whether they be using traditional flour recipe or the healthier whole wheat dough -- still remains the most popular, Kilayko said. Trade fair Kilayko and Sanchez are among the 73 Negrense producers who are bringing their products to the Association of Negros Producers’ (ANP) 22nd Negros Trade Fair at Rockwell in Makati City on Oct. 3-8. The group banners “Innovation and Reinvention” as this year’s theme. This time, Kilayko said she would be combining the two most popular delicacies -- “piaya” and “barquillos” -- all in a bite. Keeping its crisp and thin features, and retaining the fine layer of muscovado filling of her piaya, it is rolled into the shape of the barquillos. This new product Kilayko calls paiquillos is a perfect match to a scoop of ice cream or a cup of coffee. Kilayko also makes crispy piaya ice cream cones and accepts orders for crispy piaya fortune cookies. Organizing the trade fair “is not just to create a shopping venue, but to continually seek and tap new domestic and international markets and bolster inter-provincial and international linkages,” said Doreen Alicia Peña, ANP vice president for trade fair and marketing.