When I was small, one of the best way to beat the summer heat was to buy and eat ice candy. My brother and I would go to our nearby sari sari store and buy our favorite ice candies. It was only 5 centavos in the 60s and 70s. No idea how much it is now. I have not bought it for a long time.

There were many different flavors like chocolate, strawberry, grape, orange, and apple. They also sell melon, mango and buko ice candies. My favorite flavors were chocolate and grape but I also enjoyed our local fruits like mango, melon, and buko.

During summer, my brother and I sometimes made our own ice candies. We bought small bottles of Julep strawberry and grape. We mixed a pitcher of fruit juice and pour them in ice candy plastics. Sometimes, I bought a fresh coconut. I put a cup of milk into the buko juice and added the shredded coconut meat. I then poured them into the ice candy plastics. I also made melon and mango ice candies. Since we didn’t have a blender, I manually crushed the mangoes or shred the melon using a fork.

My brother and I would make more than two dozens of these ice candies. Sometimes, our freezer was fillled with multi-colored ice candies. My mother would get angry and scolded us because there were no more freezer space for the fish and meat.

I enjoyed making our own homemade ice candies. Unfortunately, I never taught my children to make their own ice candies. They prefer to eat ice cream and other frozen delights.

What is your favorite ice candy flavor? Do you buy or make your own ice candies?

CTTO for the picture.