Pastillas of Bulacan

Pastillas de leche are made by cooking carabao milk down with sugar until it thickens enough to be rolled into soft logs and dusted, and Bulacan - carabao country, with dairy herds around San Miguel - is where the Philippine version settled. The candy itself is simple and very sweet, with a fresher, gamier note than cow's milk gives. What made San Miguel's version distinctive is the wrapper: the papel de hapon in which each piece is rolled has ends that are cut into elaborate fringes and lacework patterns, sometimes spelling names or messages, done freehand with scissors by women who learned it at home, and the pabalat papercutting tradition is now recognised as a craft separate from the sweet inside it. Boxes are sold along the highway and in the town, and the fanciest wrappers cost more than the pastillas do. Bulacan generally is a province of sweets - minasa, ensaymada and inipit as well.

What you actually see

• The carabao-milk candy - soft, pale and very sweet.
• The cut wrappers - fringed and lacework papel de hapon.
• The pabalat cutting - freehand scissor work by hand.
• The highway shops - boxes sold along the road north.

When to go

Year-round; shops in San Miguel and along the highway sell it all day. Christmas is peak season for the elaborate wrappers.

Honest expectations

It is intensely sweet - a few pieces is a serving. Much commercial pastillas is made with cow's or powdered milk rather than carabao; ask if that matters. Elaborately wrapped boxes cost several times plain ones.

Nearby

San Miguel's old church and Bulacan's revolutionary sites at Malolos are close; Manila is two hours south.