The Filipino Pili Nut

It’s not often one stumbles upon a new nut. Sure, there are a lot of loons in my life (me, myself and I being the craziest three of the bunch) but a new nut of the edible kind? Well, now that is something to get crazy about!

In the Philippines, many nuts grow in abundance, in particular peanuts, cashews and coconut. With the tropical weather a welcoming home for the trees and plants that produce them, abundance is perhaps an understatement.

Here, coconuts fall from the sky (well, from the coconut palms that mark every square meter of the country); cashews nuts (my bank breaker back home) are as cheap as chips — or as peanuts, which, like everywhere else in the world define the very term abundance.

Nuts as I am about nuts though, I can get my hands on these guys in Australia whenever I need. And I do, regularly — despite my bank balance.

But there’s one nut here that I have never come across before back home, or anywhere else in my travels: the pili nut. And, not only is it new, it is decidedly different to any other nut I have encountered thus far.

Intrigue in a nutshell?

Native to the Philippines, the wild pili nut can be found growing in Bicol, a region in the south-west of Luzon. The packaged type on the other hand (usually candied in some way), can be found in just about every other part of the country, lining the aisles of the pasalubong (edible gifts) section of the supermarket, their addictive flavour a favourite with Filipinos.

My first experience with the nut was in one said supermarket aisle — my curiosity, as it often does, got the better of me and I didn’t even make it to the checkout before tearing open the packet! With a long, double teardrop shape, it reminded me of the brazil nut, and had a similarly light texture that dissolves in your mouth. However the pili is much. more. distinctive.  — more crisp, more buttery — with interesting layers of taste and texture.

The candied variety, with their thin, glossy coating of sweetness suggested hints of cinnamon. However, almost all sources confirm that there’s no cinnamon in the mix, the flavour just one of the many subtleties inherent to the nut.

For those of you from Australia, they are just like the Lattice biscuits made by Arnott’s, one of my favourites as a child. It is quite uncanny!

About a month ago I was lucky enough to go to Bicol to film a couple of TV segments on the region — outside of food, Bicol is famous for Mt Mayon, a deadly yet beautiful volcano that sweeps up from the land to preside over the entire region, as well as the majestic whale sharks who migrate here during February to May. Upon arriving in Legaspi, the capital of the region, I quickly took to life here, relaxed and less chaotic than other parts of the Philippines.

I also made it my first point of business to visit all the local producers of pili nuts and stock up from the source. The great granddaughter of Legaspi’s first candied pili nut producer at Albay Pili Nut also agreed to be interviewed* about how the pili is taken from its raw form — hidden within a large, thick husk — then transformed into one of the many delicious sweet pili delicacies such as pili marzipan (my favourite), suspiros (you ’sigh’ from delight), brittle and butterscotch coated, to name a few.

The recipes, tweaked by her mother and grandmother over the years, she explained, were originally adapted from the Spanish heirloom recipes her great grandfather brought with him at the turn of the century. Seeing an opportunity, he cleverly substituted the native pili nut (which at the time where regarded as little more than nothing) for the almonds and in so doing, forever changed the destiny of the wee pili.

Intrigue in a nutshell? Indeed.

Albay Pilinut

873 Rizal Street, Old Albay District, Legazpi City, Philippines

E: albay_pilinut@yahoo.com

* The interview will be featured in an upcoming online TV segment on the region… stay tuned!

Tagged as: Albay, Albay Pili Nuts, Bicol, Cashews, Coconut, Legaspi, Nuts, Nuts about nuts, Peanuts, Philippines, Pili Nut, Pili Nuts