TITAY'S LILOAN ROSQUILLOS
After more than a century of home baking tradition, Titay's continues to make delicious and inimitable rosquillos from the zealously guarded secret recipe of Margarita "Na Titay" Frasco.
| Since 1907, Na Titay and her heirs led by Corazon "Na Azon" B. Frasco with her two sons - Panphil and Gerardo Jr. have commited to serve their customers the best quality baked products. Although Titay's is synonymous with rosquillos, it also has an enticing array of sweets and delicacies like otap, galletas de bato, galletas del Carnen, benangkal, caycay, mamon, hojaldres, ensaimada, peñato, polvoron, sinudlan, torta and breads and savories such as chicken pork adobo, elorde, margarita, pan de leche, pan de sal, cheese bread, sliced white bread, whole wheat bread and monay. |
Titay's has reaped awards for product excellence and entrepreneurial leadership. In 2007, Gerardo "Dodong Gamay" B. Frasco Jr., the heir currently running the business, received from the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industy the Countryside Enterprise of the Year Award. In 2005, Titay's was given the National Shoppers Choice Award for excellence in product quality, company reputation, brand recognition and customer service. In the same year, it was recognized for its best marketing practices leading towards marketing dominance, goodwill and high-level customer confidence and market acceptability. Titay's was included in the Hall of Fame in 2000 by the Philippine Grand Chamber Century Awards for pioneering and sustaining Foundation gave it the prestigious Perlas Award in 1998 for valuable entrepreneurship and family home industry. In 1982, it represented Cebu in the Philippines World Trade Exhibition.   Products
Rosquillos from CebuThe rosquillos are cookies that originated from the Municipality of Liloan, Cebu. The cookies are circular in shape with flower-like edges and a ring shaped hole in the center. The rosquillos is a distinctive snack unique to Cebu and is a favorite snack of local Cebuanos and expatriate Cebuanos in the United States. The late Philippine president Sergio Osmeña Sr. reputedly gave the name of rosquillos from the Spanish word rosca, meaning ringlet. Margarita “Titay” T. Frasco created the rosquillos in 1907 in the town of Liloan. She later founded Titay’s Liloan Rosquillos and Delicacies Inc., the pioneer and premier company producing delicious and fine quality rosquillos in Cebu. Descendants of her family presently run the company which also produces other native snacks. Titay’s Rosquillos supplies and delivers its products to supermarkets in Cebu City and has several retail outlets in the city. The packaging of the rosquillos states that the cookies are made of flour, eggs, shortening, sugar and baking powder, with no preservatives and artificial colorings. However, descendants of the Frasco family claim that the recipe for the rosquillos is a patented family recipe passed on to succeeding generations of the family. Although there have been other bakeshops creating and selling their own rosquillos, many people still swear that they prefer the original Titay’s Rosquillos because of its unique and delicious taste. Aside from dried mangoes and Otap, another popular and well-loved pasalubong from Cebu is Rosquillos. and one of the best Rosquillos is Titay’s from the nearby town of Liloan.
The town of Liloan is known to be the home of the original rosquillos. In fact they have embraced it so much and has even created a festival named after this sweet biscuits. Titay’s is said to be the original maker of this uniquely shaped sweet biscuits which later on became one of the top pasalubongs for the loved ones.
When I return to Cebu sometime soon, I am planning to actually go to the town of Liloan and experience how they make this sweet delights. Titay’s main shop is located at POBLACION, Liloan, Cebu. However, there are a lot of Pasalubong shops around Cebu City as well as supermarkets that also sells the Titay’s Rosquillos.
Rosquillos FestivalCebu is considered an island of festivals. Almost every town of the province has their own festival in answered to the call of Gov. Gwen Garcia about One Town, One Product wherein every town should have at least one celebration that is unique from the others. Liloan repeatedly amazed the crowds with their extravagant parade of rosquillos in their very own “Rosquillos Festival”. It is celebrated every 29th and 30th days of May, in cognizance of its patron saint, San Fernando Rey. Rosquillos is directly associated to Liloan. This native specialty has become a favorite snack for all ages. Through the festival, rosquillos was introduced into a wider patronage. No other products that brought much pride and prestige for this humble town of the north. What is Rosquillos? Rosquillos is a cookie, designed as ringlets or with a hole at the center resembling a donut but crispier though. It is a concoction of flour, egg, sugar, shortening and baking powder. Yet, though the ingredients are so simple, but only in Liloan one can savor its best quality. Somehow, there must be other ingredients that are kept hidden for years why these cookies are so delicious for a nibble. History: The making of these mouthwatering ringlet cookies can be traced way back April 3, 1907. The then 21-year old Margarita “Titay” Frasco got bored and started to experiment. With her baking ingredients, a wooden eggbeater, some baking tins and a clay oven, little did she knew that she was making a product that would launched Liloan into local and international map when it comes to native delicacies. Her neighbors and passers-by were the first ones who have tried the cookies. Titay offered them the snack as giveaways for every purchase of a bottle of soda. The cookies remained unidentified until Sergio Osmeña, once Cebu governor and Philippine president, baptized it as “Rosquillos” in reference to the Spanish word, rosca. Also, Rosquillos de Vino is a Spanish wine ring cookie. Years after years, the patented recipe of Rosquillos was passed to the next Frasco generations and only at Frasco that the best quality is guaranteed. The family also adopted other home-made delicacies like binangkal, polvoron, mammon, otap, caycay, bao-bao, elorde, galletas de bato, torta, peñato and many others. The prestige of Titay’s rosquillos does not limit to local but penetrates the international market as well. Many people going north made it a habit to stop-over her store and buy her products. As for foreigners who loved eating this Filipino delicacy, it is available in also all Filipino stores worldwide. Resolution No. 2008-103 proclaiming Rosquillos Festival as the official festival for the Municipality of Liloan, Cebu was passed and unanimously adopted on 21st of July, 2008. Through the festival, it allows the municipality to further promote their products which in turn, is very helpful in uplifting the economy of the locality.   |
