Going nuts over healthy pili

MANILA, Philippines - Candied, it is delicious and addictive. Raw, it is lusciously nutty and heavy with oil. Either way, it is fantastic. No wonder, it is one of Bicol’s most popular delicacies.

Pili nuts are native to the Philippines, and although they are grown as ornamental trees in other tropical countries like Malaysia, only in the Philippines are they produced and processed commercially.

The fruit of this tropical tree is harvested from areas in the Bicol region where it grows naturally. So far, there is no commercial farming of the pili trees. So it all depends on nature’s bounty.

Pili nuts are high in calcium, phosphorus, and potassium, and rich in fats and protein. People love its tender-crisp texture, its smooth exterior, and subtle sweet flavor. It also has the highest oil content among all edible nuts, which probably gives it its soft yet crunchy feel.

As an ingredient, the pili nut is highly versatile. It goes well in cakes, ice cream, pies, candies, and puddings. It can also be a viable substitute for expensive pine nuts in a regular pesto recipe, making the dish more nutritious, tasty, and economical.

Indeed, the pili nut has a big potential to become a major industry in the Philippines and to help boost this development, Savemore Market creates more business opportunities for pili nut local producers by making this delicacy available at the newly opened Savemore Legazpi at the Legazpi Grand Terminal in Albay City — from fresh pili to various varieties such as pili cake, crispy pili, pastilles de pili, and pilinut brittle.

Savemore is a neighborhood supermarket that is nearer to where shoppers live and work, sparing customers from the trouble of traveling, thus saving them time, effort, and transport costs. It offers the same benefits that people have come to expect from an SM store — great product selection, fair pricing, and many value-added services like money exchange, remittance, payment center for utilities, and ATM.