Going nuts

One Filipino candy that I find myself craving for occasionally is the sweet and salty panutsa. It's a heavenly concoction of sugar that's generously sprinkled with nuts. (Or is it the other way around?)



As a kid, I remember going up to Tagaytay to Tita Zeny's house and passing by stalls and stalls of fruit vendors, and these vendors would usually have panutsa sold among their other offerings.

Now, whenever we go up to Tagaytay, I make it a point to buy a few packs of this sinfully delicious delicacy. The best ones are at Rowena's Tarts and at Loumar's Tarts. When we went to Loumar's with D' Frendz a month ago, I remember buying 4 big packs of panutsa, and it lasted only 2 days at home.

When we went up to Tagaytay with the IUJ gang, the carinderia at the back of the palengke also had a lot of panutsa vendors. I remember how Raul mentioned that he saw how panutsa was made in one of the expose shows, and the vendor went on the defensive and told Raul that he shouldn't generalize panutsa makers and vendors.

There are 2 kinds of panutsa: the glossy one and the matte one. Personally, I prefer the matte variety since the sugar is more crumbly and the texture is better. The glossy one is a bit too sticky for my taste.

Whenever I get the craving while I'm here in Manila, I'd go to Market, Market because one of the stalls there sell excellent panutsa. It comes in bite sized pieces and it has the same color and texture as the Tagaytay made ones.

This morning, I discovered that there's a stall in Farmer's Market that sells the same bite sized panutsa. I bought 2 packs, and finished one even before reaching the office. They're also sold at the pasalubong shop at The Enterprise - but it's the glossy kind so it isn't as enticing for me.

At least now there are different places to buy panutsa whenever the craving kicks in and I'm in Manila. I mean, eventhough it's a candy that I really, really like, I wouldn't go up to Tagaytay or Batangas just to buy one.

Now that would be nuts.