World's biggest rice cake

WORLD"S BIGGEST RICE ( CALAMAY)- The City of Candon through the Bagar calamay makers churned out 2,547 kilos of calamay (glutinous rice cake) besting , the 2, 097-kilo rice cake baked in Niigata, Japan in 2002 to claimed the tagged as the producer of world’s biggest rice cake (glutinous rice cake)
The Candon calamay used 200 gantas of glutinous rice, milk from 2, 000 coconuts and 1,200 kilos of brown and white sugar, using 132 vats.

HISTORY OF CALAMAY

After World War II, the Philippines was totally devastated and Candon was not exempted.

But in the village of Bagar, several coconut trees were left standing.

During that time, six elderly women in a casual conversation thought of coming out with new ways of using the food materials spared from the war including the said coconuts.

They were able to amass brown sugar, glutinous rice, vat and, of course, coconut.

Maximizing the coconut, they included its milk. They mixed all the ingredients and stirred it up until it became sticky.

They cooked it and when they tasted it, much to their surprise, it was pleasantly delicious.

Thus started the making of Calamay (glutinous rice cake ) in Candon.

More than six decades had passed and yet the same style of cooking as well as the same ingredients were being used in the now City of Candon.

Only the preparation of materials like the mechanized grounding of glutinous rice was improved due to the advent of technology and the increase of demand.

Lisa Abaya, President of the Calamay Vendors Association of Candon City, said that calamay was then consumed only locally in Bagar until other people tasted it and it became a hit.

Abaya, now in her 40's, said that one of the six elder women, Rosa del Rosario, was her grandmother.

Abaya said it was she who transferred the knowledge of making calamay to her mother, Caridad Dario and, later, to them.

Abaya said that calamay was initially sold in containers made of coconut shells and wrapped in banana leaves during 1960's.

They changed the banana leaves into plastic because the former easily spoils the calamay. Abaya knew what she was talking about as she could still remember when she was a little girl helping and joining her mother in cooking and selling the product.

She however admitted that she could not recall how the product got its name.
Her guess is it could have been derived from the early manner of cooking.
Since it involved practically all manual or using of hands, its name may be coined after the Pilipino word kamay.

Calamay up to now is baked and cooked with the same formula.

They first cook the young coconut slivers in boiling water and then add the coconut milk. They then mix the ground glutinous rice and sugar. They stir it until it become sticky and nearly dry.

Calamay in Candon has gone a long way even if it stayed the same.

It is the city's choice as its One Town One Product entry to the Department of Trade and Industry project.

The product has circled the entire world as it is a favorite pasalubong (present) by Candonians and Ilocanos to their relatives in the country and abroad.

In 2006, it placed the city in the world map when arguably the world biggest rice cake was baked here.

The Bagar calamay makers churned out 2,547 kilos of calamay, besting the 2, 097-kilo rice cake baked in Niigata, Japan in 2002.

The Candon calamay used 200 gantas of glutinous rice, milk from 2, 000 coconuts and 1,200 kilos of brown and white sugar, using 132 vats.
( Leoncio Balbin, Jr)