Back in the day, the favorite breakfast of most Filipino families is pandesal with a Filipino palaman or filling. Sometimes the kids bring some to school as their baon. While sandwich is a popular lunch food in the western world, in the Philippines, it’s eaten for breakfast, morning snacks, and afternoon merienda. While most people prefer bacon, cheese, beef, Nutella, tomato, lettuce, ham, or tuna for their sandwich filling, Filipinos have their own favorite sandwich spread. Among the best loved Filipino palaman are margarine, peanut butter, and jams.

Strawberry Jam

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Let’s start with strawberry jam. This popular Filipino palaman brings sweet delicious taste to your bread. It’s available in most stores but nothing beats the home-made jam. Summer, when strawberry is abundant, is the best time to make strawberry jam. Sure it’s a simpler if you will just buy one from the nearest supermarket. But there’s a lot of benefits from making jam at home. First, you’re sure your ingredients are fresh and free from preservatives. Another thing, you can do it according to your taste. Oh, and strawberry are rich in antioxidants too.

Chicken Salad Sandwich Spread

This particular Filipino palaman is very tedious to make but the resulting taste is worth it. Chicken salad spread is rich in flavor. This can be eaten alone but is also a great filling for your bread. To get the best version of chicken salad, it’s good to use chicken breast (pluck in strips), apple (for sweet and crunchy texture), pineapple chunks, potato cubes, onions, pickle relish, and of course, mayonnaise.

The Real Filipino Palaman Minatamis na Bao

Minatamis na bao or coconut jam is another popular Filipino palaman. Its main ingredients are egg yolk, coconut milk, and lots of sugar. It’s so tasteful that the jam alone would make a great dessert. If you’re planning to make your own coconut jam, mind you, it’s very time consuming but totally worth it.

Cheese Pineapple Sandwich Spread

Cheese pineapple spread is very easy to make. You will only need cheese, evaporated milk, pineapple, and some salt.

Mango Jam

If you have leftover or overripe mango in the ref, rather than disposing it, why not make a homemade mango jam? It’s absolutely delicious. It’s just mango and sugar, and voila, you have a mango jam. But of course, there are some steps to follow in the preparation of this Filipino palaman, but it’s very simple to make.

Peanut Butter

An all-time Filipino palaman favorite. Kids and adults alike are fans of this melt-in-your-mouth yummy bread spread. We used to believe that spread like this is not good for our health because of its fat contents, but recent studies show that peanut butter has actually some healthy contents like vitamin E, magnesium, potassium, and vitamin B6. Not to mention that nuts, the main component of this spread, can help lower the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and other health conditions. So there, indulge yourself, there’s no need to be guilty.

Margarine

Before peanut butter or jam, there was margarine with a sprinkle of sugar. This is probably the oldest Filipino palaman combination, every ’80s or ’90s kid knows this.

Don’t forget to read the second part of this series.

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