FYI: Winter melon is actually kundol

Milk tea shops are still the top of the trends, and among the most popular flavors is the exotic sounding "winter melon."

But it shouldn't be all that exotic for us, Pinoy, especially when it figures greatly in "Bahay Kubo."

Winter melon is kundol — as in "kundol, patola, upo't kalabasa" — and it's been used by our ancestors to make sweet treats since ages ago.

In an episode of "Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho," food historian and a pillar of Kapampangan cuisine Atching Lillia Boromeo showed the art of making some tasty kundol hopia and explained how the dish dates back to when the Chinese arrived in the province. 

"Ang mga Chinese na dumating dito sa Pampanga, tinuruan din ang mga Kapampangan kung anong gagawing iba-ibang luto ng Chinese. Isa sa mga tinuro nila ay ang hopiang kundol." — Margaret Claire Layug/LA, GMA News