Fruit & Broas

While visiting the small town of Lucban in the province of Quezon, we picked up a large can of broas in one of the pasalubong stores. These delicious ladyfingers are crisp- with just the right amount of sugar and perfect with freshly brewed coffee or tea. They can be bought at almost every street corner but the most well-known is Pavino’s and they have them by the cans and smaller sealed bags. They are the most requested pasalubong from this town, next to the longganisa of course, and we happily oblige since we have to buy our own stash every time we are there.

A big can takes a while to finish so I like making these easy refrigerator cakes before they go stale. Fruit and broas is a quick refrigerator cake with layers of ladyfingers and creamy fruit cocktail topped with chopped pistachios. The broas can be soaked in a bit of the fruit cocktail juice or layered as is, keeping its crisp texture for an extra dessert crunch.  Fruit cocktail but can be replaced with other canned fruits like peaches or even fresh ripe mangoes. We have another fruit cocktail merienda recipe, Ginataang Bilo-bilo here. Preparation only takes a few minutes, but refrigeration should be overnight to get the juices settled and firm up the cream. It will be tempting to use the freezer but it will be more difficult to slice and the texture won’t be as nice and creamy. It’s a yummy dessert for potlucks and something kids can easily prepare. You can even get creative with the topping like shaved chocolates and mini oreos!