Ube candles, ube scents, and ube art, anyone?

Think you know every way to enjoy ube? Well, Ube Fest proved otherwise.

Held from September 5 to 6 at The Corner House in San Juan, the festival brought together small businesses with their own creative takes on everyone’s favorite purple ingredient.

Some stayed close to ube’s OG dessert roots, while others treated it as a starting point — playing with its color, texture, and aroma in many unconventional ways. The result was part food festival, part small-business showcase, and part answer to the question: How many things can ube become?

Ube in its lifestyle era

Ube may have long been a staple of Filipino desserts, but at Ube Fest, it also found its way into fragrance and art.

Moods & Aroma turned ube into a scented candle, bringing its familiar scent into something for the home.

UBE GETS LIT — LITERALLY! Moods & Aroma turns ube into scents for your home

Sumi Inklings explored another side of the purple yam by using ube as paint to create art. The artist made the ingredient part of the artwork itself, using its natural color and texture as a creative medium.

UBE ART. Sumi Inklings trades conventional paint for ube, using the purple yam’s natural color to create one-of-a-kind marbled art. Instagram video screenshot from @sumi.inklings

It was a playful (and really cool) way to look at something usually meant to be eaten. In the hands of an artist, ube’s rich purple color became pigment on the canvas.

Ube-fied favorites

But not every product at the fest took ube somewhere uncharted. Some of the most interesting finds simply added it to food Filipinos already know and love.

Ube Taho combined two nostalgic flavors in one cup. Instead of the usual arnibal (brown sugar syrup), ube’s earthy sweetness became an exciting addition to the warm, silken taho.

UBE TAHO. Bringing an incredible spin on the classic street food staple

Then there was the ube scoopie, an indulgent take featuring warm ube cake topped à la mode with vanilla ice cream. The contrast of warm cake and cold ice cream, dense crumb and creamy melt, made each spoonful especially satisfying.

UBE SCOOPIE FROM SCOOPA.PH. Moist ube cake topped with melty chocolate and a scoop of vanilla ice cream

Three friends, and a playground for small businesses

Behind Ube Fest were young entrepreneurs Chelsea Yap, Tyrone Tan, and Chloe Sy. The festival gave the three friends a way to enter the events space while building a community around other like-minded peers.

“We wanted to try something unique because a lot of bazaars nowadays revolve around the same themes. We wanted to make connections, make friends, and help other small businesses,” Chelsea said.

To her, ube also presented an opportunity to spotlight a familiar Filipino ingredient through fresh ideas. “It’s such a simple ingredient that can be incorporated into so many different foods and forms. We hope to highlight the unique flavors and food the Philippines has to offer.”

Ube Fest brought a glimpse of that creativity at work. Give local makers one ingredient, and they will find new ways to serve it, scent it, shape it, and build a whole festival around it. The fun was seeing how far they could take ube without losing what people already love about it. – Rappler.com