When I was much younger, I used to freeze “flat” coca-cola and use the ice cubes to chill my fresh coca-cola, and the water from the ice wouldn’t dilute the drink… :) So when someone recently mentioned that one of the tricks used to make a particularly appealing halo-halo was to freeze the milk, I knew exactly what they meant… BTW, I have always disliked, now bordering on hate, these tall soda fountain type glasses to serve halo-halo in, as it’s hard to get to the bottom of things, mixed it all up, eat it without tipping the glass and all the while avoiding some messy liquid overflow. They should ban these glasses and replace them with wide bowls instead. :)
I like the halo-halo’s at Razon’s and have them several times a year… but when that rare occasion occurs at home when we have homemade macapuno and minatamis na saging, we make our own version of this halo-halo. Too bad we didn’t have leche flan, or it would have been even more delicious…
There is no rocket science involved, just a bit of advance planning. We made several containers of “iced milk” with a proportion of half evaporated milk, half water. It was too dense for my liking, so if you do this, you may want to try 1/3 milk, 2/3 water ratio. Freeze overnight…
We have this electric ice shaver at home, one of my best equipment purchases down in Quiapo or Divisoria, and while it’s ugly and noisy and nothing like this original, it makes quick effortless work of shaving ice for a large group of people…
The iced milk appeared “heavy” so we also threw in a few ice cubes to makes some pure shaved ice and mixed them all up…
…as the iced milk begins to melt, the whole dish seems richer — a driect result of having less ice/water, I suppose.
For my halo-halo, I added some minatamis na saging to the glass, lots of macapuno, a shmear of ube jam, lots of ice and it was good to go. Great snack for a hot summer afternoon. So remember to freeze the milk for a richer halo-halo! :)
44 Responses
YUM!! i remember when i was a little kid, my friends and i used to sell halo-halo on the street. :) i wish our local ingredients are more readily available here in kuwait..
Nice idea MM! Though i have to say I don’t mind lots of ice in halo halo, I think this is because I don’t really like things too sweet and the ice dilutes the sweetness somewhat. I like Razon’s too! On the other hand one thing I really dislike is that, 9 times out of 10 , beer in the Philippines is served in a glassful of ice, which results in waterlogged beer. If only one could persuade restaurants and bars to make “beer ice” – now that would really be something :)!
coincidence!was at razon’s last week and suddenly realized that the milk must have been frozen with the water too, since i’ve never seen milk drops or “furrows” on the ice. The bananas look like they’ve been caramelized with muscovado instead of liquid-syrupy. Nice post, MM!
Have been looking for an ice shaver like that. Please tell me where in Divi you got the ice shaver and how much. Thanks, MM!
“be careful finger”….hahaha…love it! And is that binagoongan in the bottles beside the shaver?
From Divisoria, we bought the old fashion “ice shaver”, the one that is colored green, made of bakal, yung mayrong wheels na iniikot. Ang hirap lang, kailangan mong i-permanently nail to the table na kailangan eh matibay dahil heavy duty yung kaskasan na yun. But it was fun, and I guess it was more of nostalgic purposes than the halo-halo itself, kasi mas madaling mag kaskas ng yelo using that small gadget that looks like a wood planer. Hihi.
Um, if you dislike tall soda fountain glass types for halo halo, why’d you serve yours in a tall one and not in a bowl? ;p
meekerz, it photographs better so you can see the contents… but we always use large bowls at home. The tall glasses for ice cream sundaes instead… EbbaBlue, yes, we have the old ice shaver too, and yes, it is a lot of work. Millet, on Tabora Street, the sidewalk vendors have this, PHP2000+ or you can get them at kitchen equipment places in Quiapo too…
I like Razon’s too and I thought that it was the leche flan that gave it the edge. I didn’t realize that it might be the frozen milk.
that’s one great looking halohalo!..i agree with bowls. less mess and you could get to all the good stuff. how could one “halo” if the container is tall and narrow?
You should try also Aling Taleng’s Halo-halo located at Pagsanjan, Laguna. Specially those people having their Visita Iglesia in Laguna.
My household uses this cheap plastic version of the old-fashioned ice shaver with a grinding wheel at the top of a screw that is affixed to a plate with spikes to hold the chunk of ice. The blades are on the bottom of the receptacle for the ice. It creates a very awful, literally spine-tingling noise (what is “ngilo” in english?) when the gadget is used.
I saw that ice shaver somewhere and wanted one ever since. Thank you MM for this serendipitous post. :)
Millet…for the icy milk …try Nestle cream, condensed milk, a squirt of vanilla, water. No need to top your halo-halo with ice cream! Oh…MM….maybe if you add espresso to the mix, freeze and pass it through your ice shaver, you have sort of coffee ice cones! Of course, omit the vanilla…
When in Pampanga, try RFW halo-halo along Rosario st. in Angeles City in front of Carmelite convent, yummy!
What a coincidence, MM. I ate halo-halo yesterday after having thai fish in red curry for lunch at my friend’s new restaurant in Bulacan . It was placed in a bowl around 6 inches in diameter. It was the first time I prefer to use a bowl instead of the tall glass because it is more convenient.
Freezing milk/water mixture is a good idea. I love the color of the syrup for the minatamis na saging, and the macapuno looks so fresh. And also the color of the halayang ube, my favorite. :)
hello MM have you tried the halo-halo of Razon’s Pampanga?
thanks, MM!
thanks, bettyq, chockfull of ideas as usual!
That is what my lola used to do for mais con hielo — make milk granita! What she did was a little more work, though. First, I don’t think she diluted the milk with water at all. And she didn’t just freeze it then shave it, as she didn’t have an electric ice shaver. Instead, she made it like granita, where you have to stir and break up the icy milk as it freezes. When it’s ready, there’s no need to shave the ice milk; it’s just scooped directly into the glass, no need for any regular ice at all! :-)
My cousin has the same ice shaver. It scares the hell out of me, but we used it during Christmas when we had an all Filipino themed buffet :) But it is efficient, just a little wild with the ice :)
I’m one of those who like milky and sweet halo-halo. I actually mix evaporated milk AND condensed milk to mix with my halo-halo :) My mom hates it when I add condensed milk. But to each his own.
My favorite mix though is to have kakang gata, cooked with a bit of sugar then chilled, as the milk for the halo-halo :)
I’ve been eating halo-halo for the past weeks as sayang the bote-bote minatamis my sister brought as pasalubong. She also got me the mano-mano pangkaskas ng hielo like the carpenter’s katam. A soup mug is a better halo-halo vessel than glass. You can freeze left-over coffee and tea too and use as ice cubes!
ahhh halo-halo…. summer is coming to the desert and this is one treat that i would looovvee to see on my table. yum!
Summer really is already around the corner (despite having these weird rains lately.) :) In the provinces, halo-halo stands dotting the streets is a sure sign that you will have to go through at least a couple of months of stiffling, dry-ish heat. Of course, everyone has their favorite halo-halo mix and it’s rather interesting what ingredients people choose to leave out or refuse to eat. For me, simple is best; just a few good ingredients (ala Razons) and I’m all set.
Ditto Katrina’s comment. My mom also made milk granita for halo-halo for lack of an ice shaver. It was perfect!
Millet…here is another one…I just bought 10 avocados yesterday (large ones for 88 cents each and I am staring at them now). If you make avocado milk, freeze, and make kaskas or pass it through a shaver…then on the bottom of your glass, macapuno like MM’s macapuno…naku, I think mangagawit ang kili-kili mo sa kaskas ng kaskas ng avocado ice milk!
Hey, La Emp…let me know when….ask Ros how to get in touch wth me. I am GAME!!!! I will bring my BlendTec so we can make shaved ice like this avocado with macapuno…and even halo-halo!
bettyq, another coincidence! am just trying out an electric ice cream maker that my sister sent over, and today i made avocado ice cream. it turned out very well, but i was wishing i had some macapuno or buco strips for a contrast in textures. it’s the peak season for avocados here now.
Millet, MM!…I don’t know what I ate last night but I am getting all these ice milk combinations in my head. This is for Millet since I know, you cannot stand durian, MM…So MIllet, another use for your durian if you have a bumper crop…make durian ice milk…shave and I think macapuno will go with durian flavoured shaved ice. You have langka tree?…langka flavoured (puree your langka first) ice milk…freeze, shave and put haleya ube on the bottom of the glass!….Lychee flavoured ice milk …paired with almond jello on the bottom of the glass or sweetened red beans.
my sister is planning a trip here in october. maybe i can “ask” her to bring me an ice shaver like MM’s. which one works better, the old fashioned wheelie or electric ? the ones sold here are puny and don’t last long. we also like to eat iced milk concoctions all year round.
Psychomom…the old fashioned wheelie needs kili-kili power. The one in MM’s post here is an electric one? Now if your sister is back home, bear in mind that it could be 220 and not 110. I just saw them (the heavy duty commercial type) on e-bay last night ranging anywhere from $69 and up. The good thing is it might not cost you a lot on shipping. I think some has free shipping to US. Also, the power ranges anywhere from 12 volts (yes, you could even plug it to your car battery if you want to make halo halo when you are camping) to 243 watts…best wear ear muffs with that one!
thanks bettyq!!! will check ebay!!!
@BettyQ. Is BlendTec better than Vitamix? I’m about to purchase one but have not decided which one is better. Googled them both and made comparisons but still not sure what to get.
Gosh. I suddenly remembered my mom when she made our own halo-halo during summer vacation so we can have our free merienda only if we help prepare it and sell it to our neighbors. Yummy !!! Perhaps that explains why I have a sweet tooth.
There is a place in Guagua , Pampanga market where the carinderia are close to one another and each stall sell their own halo-halo specialty. I grew up in Lubao yet my mom prefer to buy fish, meat and veggies there because we get to have pancit palabok and halo-halo afterwards. I really miss those days .
Can somebody start a blog contest of some sort and have a halo-halo giveaway as the prize ?
Talk about sugar rush ! Ha ha!
Hello, MM. This is one of my all time favorite snacks year round-even in the dead of winter! The first time I had this snowflake shaved ice was in Dallas at a restaurant owned by a Taiwanese family. They freeze this mixture of condensed milk and water. They also add flavoring like mango or strawberry into the mixture. When one orders a mango snowflake, they shave the mango flavored milk ice, top it with sweet, ripe mango, mango ice cream, more condensed milk and sometimes whipped cream. Super sarap! This is served in a shallow bowl so it is very easy to mix–I found this link with pictures: https://kirbiecravings.com/2012/01/snowflake-shaved-ice-taiwan.html
Looks as good as Razon’s if not better! I don’t know if its just me, but somehow the halo-halo in the Razon branches in Pampanga taste better than their Manila counterparts.
Hmmmn I don’t know if it’s just me and my family but the Razon Halo-halo we tried was way too sweet for our taste. We thought it was the macapuno, way too sweet and too much.. All of us had left overs in our glasses. We had it in their branch in the intersection going to Sta. Rita Pampanga. Too be honest I didn’t see what the hype is all about.
Marketman your halo-halo looks great! Authentic looking the kind that if I see it I got to have it… I like the less ingredients and not too sweet halo-halo…
Maybe I’ll freeze the milk along with the syrup of whatever sweetened fruit available, I don’t like sugar granules when having halo-halo. I recently tasted very fine shavings of fresh watermelon. So good!
I’ve been cravingRazon’s halo-halo since last night! Perfect!
I like how simple and streamlined their halo-halo is and how fine the ice shavings are. The biggest turn-off for me are ice chunks in my halo-halo(second only to beans).
The photo up top is lovely!
Had Razon’s (Cebu) earlier tonight… Despite its stripped down version of hala-halo, I can see why many people like it a lot. It does taste good, but I prefer the classic version, with all the colorful and yummy little bitsies of richly colored goodies! =^.^=
Freezing Coke cubes seems a good idea, but I think I might just end up drinking it before it even reaches the ice tray! hehehe…
bettyq, my sister sent me a cuisinart ice cream maker and am just getting the hang of it. the mint chip ice cream i made last week was icy and “shardy”. the avocado ice cream i made a few days later was better but still a bit icy….”sherbetty” is more like it, if you scrape it with a spoon from the container. am trying for avocado again tomorrow, and then i’ll do as you suggested – put some macapuno in the bottom of the cup! in the meantime, i froze a big batch of buco juice with some buco shreds, and added a whole can of lychees…perfect summer yum!
sir naglalaway na po ako ngayon… Thank you for that! Btw where did the ube come from? New fan here, stumbled across your blog from today’s Inquirer SIM (Claude Tayag feature -> mention of anthony bourdain and his Philippine ‘No Reservations’ episode -> best lechon ever)… :)
Meg, this ube was bottled, but we have made it at home several times, posts on that in the archives of the blog… :)
this is getting crazier, bettyq! yes, i’ve made lychee and durian ice creams, and i have two packs of fresh langka in the freezer. oh my, whatever it is you ate, keep eating it, bettyq! hahaha…must be the water in your neck of the woods, di ba, MM?
You are right Marvien. We’ve been there kila Aling Taleng’s Halo halo shop. Since 1933 ung shop nila. Mura compare to Razon’s. Pero yummy din.
Wahhhhhhhhhh!!! Im done reading all the posts! I need an ice crasher same output as Razon’s or snow flake from taiwan. Pls help guys!