Philippine cuisine Filipino cuisine ( fil, lutong Pilipino/pagkaing Pilipino) is composed of the cuisines of more than a hundred distinct ethnolinguistic groups found throughout the Philippine archipelago. A majority of mainstream Filipino dishes that compose Fi ...

, ''roscas'' or ''biscocho de roscas'' refers to a pastry cookie product from the province of

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

, mainly from the towns of Barugo and

Carigara Carigara (), officially the Municipality of Carigara ( war, Bungto han Carigara; tl, Bayan ng Carigara), is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Leyte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 54,656 people. The ...

, made from lard, anise, flour, sugar, butter and eggs. Roscas are initially shaped as crescents or penannular rings (hence the name—''roscas'' is

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

for "rings"). Each of the roscas is then cut in half before baking, resulting in two separate elbow-shaped cookies. While some claim that this

pasalubong ''Pasalubong'' (Tagalog, " omethingfor when you welcome me") is the Filipino tradition of travellers bringing gifts from their destination to people back home. ''Pasalubong'' can be any gift or souvenir brought for family or friends after bei ...

pastry cookie traces its history to the

Spanish era The Spanish era ( la, Æra Hispanica), sometimes called the era of Caesar, was a calendar era (year numbering system) commonly used in the states of the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th century until the 15th, when it was phased out in favour of the ...

, others have indicated that roscas-making in Leyte was started in the town of Barugo by a returning migrant in the late 1960s whose success was replicated in the nearby town of Carigara and the far town of Calbayog in

Samar Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...

province. What original dish the roscas derive from remains unspecified, however.

References

Philippine pastries Bread dishes Culture of Leyte (province) Culture of Samar (province) Philippine breads Visayan cuisine {{Philippines-cuisine-stub

See also

References