One gift idea is already a staple during celebrations — ham.
One can easily pick ready-to-serve hams in the supermarket, among them the Cebuano brand Virgina Foods Inc. (VFI) which offers seven types of Christmas ham to suit various budgets.
Premium hams like the Smoked Crown Roast is a whole muscle ham made from tender pork back ribs tied and shaped like a royal crown.
The American Tenderized Ham is also a whole muscle spiced leg ham cured with a hint of smokey flavor.
“These two are the more expensive ones at P990 per kilo for the Smoked Crown Roast and P580 per kilo for the American Tenderized Ham,” said VFI vice president for marketing and sales Stanley Go.
Another popular selection is the Pineapple Glazed Ham which is shaped like a ball and sold at P499 per kilo.
Others are the Season’s Delight Ham, Jamon de Bola, Pear-shaped Ham and Chicken Pear-shaped Ham.
Demand for Christmas hams started as early as November.
The company designed their boxes with Christmas themes to serve as ready gifts for the holidays.
Others who opt for home-made traditional Cebuano flavor look for “hamonada.”
Siblings Suzette and lawyer Ethelbert Ouano saw the business potential and started an enterprise with their family’s favorite recipe of hamonada.
“Everyone in our family loves to cook and we can say that our hamonada is one of our specialties,” said Ouano.
His friends often request that he bring hamonada whenever they have parties
It was only this year that they started offering the dish to customers at P500 per serving.