Ube: The Purple Dessert
It’s those weekly Sunday rides back home from church in the Philippines when we’d stop by a tiny house along the road that sells authentic Filipino delicacies. My father would come back walking to the car carrying a white plastic bag containing a transparent, rectangular, plastic case inside. As soon as he enters the car, he would hand it down to me and my 5-year-old self would stare with glistening eyes at a vibrant, shiny, and purple dessert called Ube.
Ube is a staple ingredient in Filipino desserts. It is made from boiled and mashed purple yam, which is a root crop specifically grown in the Philippines. It naturally has an unearthly and vibrant purple color; and if your favorite color is purple just like me, it would be hard to resist such temptation. The simplest and most common way of consuming ube is transforming it into ube halaya, and that’s the one my father would get for us on Sundays. It is mushy yet firm, sweet yet kind to your throat, and thick yet melts in your mouth. It is perfect for sharing but don’t be surprised if you see it being devoured by a single person. It can be eaten by itself or could be used as a spread for bread or as a topping to Halo-halo, another famous Filipino dessert. Different renditions of ube halaya exist and they vary in consistency or color depending on the preferences of the cook preparing it. Its consistency can be light like a jam or thick like a moist brownie; pale or bright purple in color, contingent on the concentration of purple yam used, thus, the deeper and more vibrant hue it has, the richer it is in taste. I personally prefer it thick and bright, most probably because it’s the taste that I grew up with.
“Its creamy consistency, subtly sweet flavor, and vibrant hue make it easy to love by almost all who try it.” — Anna Roberts of PopSugar.
This striking purple dessert is not only pleasing for the eyes and the mouth, but also offers several health benefits for the body. Purple yam belongs to the same family of root vegetables as sweet potato and thus holds similar nutrients, as elaborated by Cynthia Sass, a Registered Dietitian and editor in Health.com. According to her, ube has no fat, contains carbohydrates, some protein, and is rich with immune-supporting vitamins A and C, potassium, and antioxidants. Not much of a guilty pleasure but rather pure, innocent delight, if you ask me.
Ube now comes in all shapes and forms. It has highly evolved into being an ingredient for most desserts adopted throughout the world. Much like how there’s flavors of chocolate and vanilla for almost everything, ube is slowly making its way at the same level. There is ube ice cream, ube cake, ube brownies, ube crinkles, ube tarts, you name it! One of the most famous and trending adaptations of ube is offered in Soft Swerve, New York. As the shop name suggests, they sell soft-served ube ice cream which is their best seller according to The Insider. It is soft, creamy, and aesthetically pleasing to the eyes while maintaining the not-so-sweet taste of ube. This shop isn’t alone in the business though, several others have also hopped into the train of soft-serve ube and ube in general. Customers and food experts alike describe the flavor as similar to chestnut, white chocolate, sweet potato, or pistachio but the subtleties can be hard to explain through words, you just have to taste it for yourself.
Marketing for ube came naturally from its bright purple origin. People often think that it’s food coloring, because c’mon, think of food with a natural purple color in 5 seconds, I bet you can’t name three without using Google. It has attracted Instagram and Pinterest moguls mostly due to its aesthetic but also people of all ages and genders considering its subtly-sweet taste that can be healthy and satisfying too. Therefore, next time you have friends and family coming over, consider surprising their eyes and appetite with some ube-flavored dessert and I can guarantee, they’d want to visit you more. That is definitely considering the pandemic and quarantine is over though. For now, it’s okay to treat yourself and quite possibly enjoy some quality content of purple goodness on your social media.
