Lola Abon's Durian candy factory
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| Lola Abon's portrait hung on the wall and one of her descendant running the business. |
Travel would not be complete without buying souvenir items and food or delicacy of a certain place to bring back home, as something to give to relatives and friends, which we call in Filipino “pasalubong” that’s why in any place in the Philippines, where tourists come and go, souvenir shops, food and fruit stands are prevalent along major roads, markets or just outside tourist places selling different kinds of stuff.
One known store seller of sweet delicacies recommended to us when we were in Davao is Lola Abon’s Durian factory located in 23 San Miguel Village Matina. Although their location is in a residential area they had been visited by known personalities as photos are displayed on their wall near the door when you enter. There’s a big signage outside their small store, fully air-conditioned inside and products are well displayed on their shelves. They have a variety of durian preserved like candy, yema, polvoron, tart and ice cream – which is our most favorite. Aside from durian, they also have other fruit preserved candies which I’ve seen like mangosteen, mango and papaya. Price would range from PHP 35.00 per pack or plastic.
Durian fruit is a product of Davao and during its season they are sold half the price per kilograms, it’s just unfortunate for us that when we had visited Davao in January it’s off season and the price is almost the same in Manila that’s why we settled for buying durian candies, however another fruit abundant in Davao is pomelo, which is on its season. Every fruit stand we came across the street are selling this at a price range from PHP 60.00 to PHP 65.00 per kilogram. We stopped by a fruit stand along Mc Arthur hi-way that offers taste test, because we want to ensure that we won’t be embarrassed to those we will be giving those fruits as our present. Because it tastes good and sweet, and the cost is cheap, we bought 12 kilos which per fruit weigh almost half kilo. Good thing the store has nice cartons with handle on top and holes at the sides so it was easy for us to carry those excess baggage when we traveled back to Manila.
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| Back in our hotel, we couldn't resist the sweet and delicious taste of pomelo that we had to open one which we had for our midnight snack. |
