Baguio’s Outrageously Delicious Peanut Brittle

One day a clever Igorot lad thought of planting peanuts and sugarcane together and then out came this odd looking golden brown thin mat of a delicacy. It started the peanut brittle industry in Baguio, according to some folklore. Not in real life, though.

It easily crackles and breaks into pieces to the bite. The moment the peanut brittle touches the tongue a sweet caramel-ly flavor overwhelms the palate and then the subtle tang of cashew or peanut comes in. Cashew is better. With some ultra special peanut brittle types the wafer is so thin and crispy our cutters and molars easily pulverize them so that they quickly melt in the mouth afterwards.

In recent decades peanut brittle has become synonymous with Baguio City, and vice versa. Well, other tourist sites in Luzon offer almost the same thing, but what’s special about Baguio peanut brittle is its richer flavor. Peanuts grow better and richer on hillsides. Then couple this with some secret cooking procedures known only to Baguio peanut brittle makers and we have the nation’s most popular peanut brittle.

These are thin candy wafers of corn syrup, sugar, local nuts, and natural flavors blended by boiling and pouring extra thinly on flat clean metal surfaces. When the stuff cools down and hardens (some say the Baguio climate has some delightful effect on the cooling down) it’s so brittle it breaks at the slightest tap. Then, the peanut brittle pieces are bottled, sealed, and sold. Some at Php 40 some at Php 95 per bottle.

There are a thousand and one brands of peanut brittle in Baguio City some of which reach some supermarkets in the lowlands and even in Metro Manila. But according to some a really good brand comes from somewhere near Mines View Park. There it’s even mixed with butter.

Some inferior brands are sticky and a bit chewy—but often cost more. How do we know good ones from bad ones? Not until we open the bottle and taste one. Beware of those packed in bottles with a cardboard roll in the middle. Outwardly they look fully packed. Once we open we see peanut brittle pieces at the sides only, with the middle stacked with a cardboard roll.

To be sure, buy only quality peanut brittle brands. Ask hotel and lodge managers and they’d gladly tell about superb brands and where to buy them. Just be careful not to over-eat peanut brittle or it will give us brittle teeth.