Bohol’s Tinapay crisp: A decades-old homemade treat

Tinapay Crisp | CDN Digital photo / Doris C. Bongcac

MANDAUE CITY, Cebu — Aside from its famous calamay, Bohol province is also known for its Tinapay crisp, a thin and crispy sugar-coated treat.

Tinapay crisp is a famous delicacy that a number of Boholano families started to bake after the Word War II.

But to date, only one family in the island-province has continued the tradition of baking this treat, especially for locals who now live in other parts of the country and abroad and who are looking for local products that they grew up with.

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Cecilia Oroc, 64, had been baking home-made Tinapay crisp since she was a child and she intends to continue making the treat for as long as she still can for the generations to come to also taste and enjoy this heirloom pastry.

“Ako gyud ni ipadayon kay mao na man ni ang among panginabuhi-an. Unya naa may mangita gyud,” she said.

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(I will have to continue doing this because this has already become our source of livelihood. And there are those who would really look for our product.)

Cecilia Oroc (left) preparing the dough for her Tinapay crisps. | CDN Digital photo / Doris C. Bongcac

Continuing a family tradition

Baking home-made crisps was a tradition that was started by her grandmother, Nieves Eya, after the World War II. Eya later on passed the tradition to her children who also passed this on for their own children to continue.

Cecilia learned to bake from her mother, Sofronia Callenero, one of Eya’s children, and continued the family tradition in a small space located at the back of her house in Brgy. Taloto in Tagbilaran City.

From among Callenero’s eight children, only Cecilia, the second child, took interest in baking Tinapay crisp.

As she continued their family’s Tinapay crisp business, she also continued the bake using the old ways.

Cecilia would prepare the dough that is made from flour, pork lard and margarine on a wooden table that is found at their workstation at the back of their house to produce the thin, crispy, sugar-coated treat.  Everything is done manually to maintain the product’s quality.

| CDN Digital photo / Doris C. Bongcac

She bakes her Tinapay crisp on a “pugon” or an improvised oven that uses chopped wood.

“Dili ni siya commercially produced,” she said.

(This is not commercially produced.)

Last remaining Tinapay crisp maker

Cecilia is the last remaining Tinapay crisp maker in Tagbilaran City, that used to be a booming industry decades back.

And while she continues to observe the traditional way of preparing Tinapay crisp, her product has already reached various places outside of Tagbilaran City, including abroad.

Boholanos who come home to visit, go on vacation or attend fiesta celebrations, would always look for her pastries to eat and bring home as pasalubong.

She is able to sell at least 100 packs of her Tinapay crisps per week on normal days. Her sale4-yeas would double during the fiesta month of May.

Cecilia Oroc’s roadside store where she displays her baked products.| CDN Digital photo / Doris C. Bongcac

Cecilia would also place her products on display in a small store located just outside of their home and along the road.

Aside from her Tinapay crisp, Cecilia also produces and ‘old fashion’ cookies and torta on a per order basis.

Just like her, who learned the business from her mother, Cecilia said that her costumers also learned about her products from their parents who used to be costumers of her mother and grandmother.

As she is now growing old, Faith Marie, the youngest of Cecilia’s five children, is helping her bake.

Faith Marie said she inherited her mother’s love for baking, the reason why she enrolled in Food Technology at the Bohol Island State University.

The fourth year student said that she hopes to continue their family’s tradition of baking Tinapay criap. And with her knowledge in food technology, Faith Marie said that she may even start to explore means on how to further improve their product while preserving the same flavor and texture that their customers love.