The Filipino love of all things sweet runs deep, its roots going all the way back to the days of our youth when candy, typically purchased at sari-sari stores near our schools and in our neighborhoods, seemed to solve any and all of life’s problems.
With adulthood comes a ton more complications than those much simpler times, but there’s no reason you can’t turn to the same confections (in moderation!) for a quick dose of comfort. Below are some of the classic candies that have carved a place in our hearts, and continue to bring sweet, sugary joy to otherwise-mundane days.
1. Potchi
Potchi is pretty much the little black dress of the Pinoy candy world—it’s just about universally loved and can be had for a fast, fruity boost any time of the day. This strawberries-and-cream flavored gummy candy is soft, sweet, and just a tad tangy without being overly sour. Past its crystallized exterior, it’s the right amount of bouncy and chewy that you can eat piece after piece without your jaw getting tired.
2. Haw-Haw
Filipinos love their milk—not just for actual drinking, but even as a candy flavor-slash-theme. Most iconic of the genre is Haw-Haw, a compressed-type candy of sugar, whey, and buttermilk powders that melts into a sweet, creamy mix in the mouth.
3. Mik-Mik
Related to Haw-Haw—the anti Haw-Haw, if you will—is Mik-Mik, which also spotlights the taste of milk but in a different format. Mik-Mik comes as sachets of a loose mix of sugar and milk powder; plus tiny blue straws for sucking out the powder from its packets.
4. White Rabbit
Kids in the ‘80s and ‘90s will likely have grown up with the original White Rabbit candies easily within reach. This original version is a chewy, creamy milk candy wrapped in edible rice paper, which keeps the candy from sticking to the wrapper and magically melts on the tongue.
5 & 6. Flat Tops and Curly Tops
We’re willing to bet that most Filipinos’ first taste of chocolate came in the form of Flat Tops, and/or Curly Tops. Both are chocolate-y confections from the Filipino brand Ricoa shaped like flattened domes; Curly Tops used to have, well, curlier tops, but has gotten flatter over the years. Flat Tops can be thought as the more rustic sibling of the two with its slightly more coarse texture and milk-forward taste. Curly Tops has a more sophisticated feel to it with its stronger cocoa note and smoother melt.
7 & 8. Choc Nut and Hany
If the U.S. has its peanut butter cups, the Philippines has chocolate-peanut candies, the most popular brands being Choc Nut and Hany. Both are nutty-sweet confections with ground peanuts, cocoa, powdered milk, and other ingredients packed together into a moist but crumbly mix. Hany has a bit of a grittier mouthfeel however, and a stronger roasted-peanut note versus Choc Nut’s smoother, more uniform mix.
9. Nips
It doesn’t get any more whimsical than Nips, the Philippines’ own candy-coated chocolate candies with a colorful makeup. Being coated in a candy shell, these allow you to get your chocolate fix without the risk of it prematurely melting in your hand.
10. Haw Flakes
Originating from China, Haw Flakes are typically packaged in paper rolls with an eye-catching magenta hue. The candy itself comes as thin slices that are pale-red in color, somewhat resembling salami. Made with the fruit of the Chinese hawthorn tree, these candies can be chewed or melted in the mouth and have a lightly sweet, tangy taste.
11 & 12. Dynamite and Kendi Mint
The chocolate-mint combo might be polarizing for some, but for the pro camp, there are candies like Dynamite and Kendi Mint. Both have a body of peppermint hard candy paired with a chocolatey paste in the middle—a reward of sorts for waiting for the layer of candy to melt, though the impatient might be inclined to just chomp their way to get to the center.
13. Peter’s Butter Ball
Peter’s Butter Ball is pretty straightforward: these are hard candies shaped like a ball, with a bright yellow color that resembles melted clarified butter. Taste-wise, these are all about butter—compared to the usual caramels that have caramelized sugar and cream, or the butterscotch candies that use brown sugar, Butter Ball keeps things minimal on the flavor front, with just butter, sugar for sweetness, and a good hint of salt for balance.
14. Lipps
These hard candies not only boast a pleasing, sweet-tangy taste; they also double as a lip tint of sorts with their ability to stain, hence the name. Lipps comes in a bunch of flavors, most popular being the strawberry that turns lips and tongues a reddish pink.
15. Yakee
For lovers of all things sour, there’s Yakee—the “super asim” gum balls with a colorful coating that doesn’t hold back on the sourness. The outer surface is so sour that it might just trigger a scrunched face, but this exterior and sweet gum interior somehow balance each other out as you continue to chew through.
16. Pintoora
Yakee’s sibling sweet is Pintoora, which is also a gum ball that’s similar in size and form. Pintoora, however, swaps the sour coating for one that’s heavily tinted with food coloring—so much so that as you chew, the ink transfers to the tongue and tints it a vivid color.
Frequently Asked Questions
Some old-school candies a majority of Filipinos ate when they were younger were Lipps, Peter’s Butter Balls, Mik-Mik, Haw-Haw, and Potchi. A lot of Filipinoes also grew up eating Haw Flakes and White Rabbit.
Some nostalgic candies that had chocolate in them were Flat Tops, Curly Tops, Dyanmite, and Kendi Mint. There’s also Choc Nut and Hany, which were iconic chocolate-peanut candies.
Yes! A lot of Filipinos who liked sour candy most likely grew up eaating Yakee! and Pintoora.
