Kamatchili: A Fruit-like Bread of Indang

Imagine bite-sized breads shaped like fleshy, succulent and mouth-watering kamatchili fruit sprinkled with sweet and tasty confectioner’s white sugar, would you still crave from overrated kinds of bread like ensaymada, cheese bread, or Choco rolls ordinarily sold and displayed at your local bakeries? Since Indang once envisioned being the vegetable basket of Cavite, one bakery owner in this providence thought of making a unique baked product inspired from a certain, common local fruit called kamatchili. This fruit-like bread is called Kamatchili. Since the start of his family’s baking business in 1985, Mr. Roderick Peñaflorida Rodriguez’s bakery at Poblacion 3 seems to be successful in making this bread one of a kind not only for its appearance, but also for its taste. It is considered as one of the proudly and originally made delicacies found only in Indang by its locals as well as its visitors. Whenever people unfamiliar with this baked food see and taste it, they cannot help themselves to wonder that Kamatchili bread really has a resemblance to the actual fruit because it really is molded based on its shape.

The Kamatchili bread is cooked in traditional fireplace locally known pugon. According to the owner, this is the most ideal way of baking this bread because they heating and cooking the dough comes out perfectly when a fireplace is used. Usually, when modern ovens are used to bake Kamatchili bread, heat is not distributed evenly and as a result, cracked breads are produced. For years, the bakery continuously prefers to use the traditional way of cooking their products. They believe that due to their pugon’s demand to use dried woods in fueling, firing and cooking their dough, results are more favorable as they taste delicious with fewer chemicals.

As Mr. Roderick told us about the secret behind their publicly-noted bread, he only disclosed that they always start making it during nighttime. Also, he tipped that the ideal temperature used in the fireplace should be at about 200 degrees Fahrenheit. The ingredients were also mentioned; eggs, flour, baking soda, sugar, salt and maniac. The locals of Indang say that this delicacy is really tasty and this is also a frequently-ordered delicacy not only within the town but also in other places like Naic, Ternate and Amadeo. He said that Kamatchili bread serves as one of the trademarks of Indang when it comes to local delicacies. This is sold in packs with prices ranging between P40, P45 and P50. This delicacy is best partnered with hot tabliya chocolate, coffee or milk during breakfast or merienda.

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