A Season to Celebrate the Harvest

The Christmas season coincides with harvest in the Philippines. Freshly harvested rice is transformed into countless varieties of bibingka, puto, and suman. In November, Sta. Rita, Pampanga, celebrates the harvest of its precious duman, the immature rice grains of the Milagrosa species. The annual yield for these delicate, light-green grains of rice is small and pre-sold to a few families who can afford to buy it before it reaches the market. Poured into a hot steaming cup of chocolate and carabao milk, the grains melt to a puddinglike consistency at the bottom of the cup. This is also the season of the dalandan, or dalanghita, the native orange of the Philippines. Once underappreciated by Filipinos, its freshly squeezed juice is now served by many restaurants as a drink or a frozen shake. When shopping for dalandan, one looks for the tell-tale white streaks on its green rind. Called kalawang (Tagalog for rust), it indicates that the orange is quite sweet.