In a country where rice is life, it comes as no surprise that arguably the Philippines' favorite traditional snack is the suman—a hand-rolled sticky rice cake usually wrapped in banana or palm leaves. Like most Filipinos, I’ve come across different varieties of suman all over the archipelago. There’s the Tupig in Ilocos Norte and Pangasinan, Suman Pinipig in Bulacan, Suman Moron and Budbod in the Visayas, and Pintos in Mindanao—just to name a few—all differing in preparation methods, sizes, and special ingredients added.
So, you might wonder what makes the suman of Misamis Occidental—specifically the ones crafted by the famous Clarin House of Suman—different from all the rest? That’s exactly what we found out during our side-trip to the quiet town of Clarin.
Clarin’s House of Suman: Misamis Occidental’s Flavored Rice Cake
The House that OTOP Built
Clarin House of Suman was founded in 2009 as a creation of the One Town, One Product (OTOP) initiative of the Philippine Government, which aims to boost community-driven industries through locally made and sourced products.
To make their suman stand out from all other sticky rice cakes in the country, the masterminds behind Clarin House of Suman focused on concocting a creative fusion of diverse flavors. Initially starting with just a handful of varieties, they now serve over 20 flavors of suman. These include classic suman, ube, langka, mango, pineapple, chocolate, cheese, yema, latik, buko, and even durian.
Admittedly, of all the suman I have tasted across the Philippines, my personal favorite used to be the chocolate budbod suman I had in Dumaguete. But upon letting my tongue savor the deliciousness of Clarin's tablea-flavored suman, I found myself a brand-new favorite—right up there at the top of my personal suman chart alongside Dumaguete's budbod.
Of course, there wouldn't be a House of Suman without the Suman Factory itself. Like a bunch of kids venturing inside Willy Wonka’s chocolate plant, we giddily observed the local suman-makers as they mixed and battered various ingredients, hand-rolled sticky rice, and wrapped each portion neatly in banana leaves.
On any given day, a dedicated team of 17 to 20 suman-makers can produce between 3,000 and 5,000 pieces of suman—most of which sell out completely before closing time. It's an undisputed box-office hit in every sense.
Last-Minute Pasalubong Spree
Travelers passing along the stretch of the Ozamiz-Oroquieta National Highway will find it hard to ignore the bright green Clarin House of Suman. Beyond sampling the various flavors and filling ourselves to the brim—carbo-loaded to the max—we also ended up hoarding pasalubong for our families and friends back home. I bought a dozen sumans much like I would buy a box of assorted donuts, and I also took home a couple of packs of native cacao tablea.
Achieving a rock-star status among foodies in the Philippines, Clarin House of Suman further expanded its culinary footprint when they were invited to represent regional delicacies at the prestigious Madrid Fusion Manila event in 2017.
During that gathering, renowned international chefs took notice of these humble rice cakes from Clarin. Whenever people think of sticky rice desserts, they won't just be reminded of Thailand's mango sticky rice—here in the Philippines, we have an entire universe of flavorful sticky rice cakes, and we proudly call them suman.
