Rejano’s Marinduque Delicacies – Arrowroot Cookies.

The Rejano’s Bakery has been making bread, cookies, pastries and sweets for over 60 years now. The tradition began in 1946 when Timoteo Castillo opened the Castillo Bakery in Sta. Cruz, Marinduque. The bakery was inherited by Crisistomo Rejano, Castillo’s adopted son. Later, Crisostomo’s wife, Belen cooked up a very good arrowroot (uraro) cookie that served as treats for friends and relatives during birthdays and weddings. Little did she know that her arrowroot cookies would become so popular even outside the boarders of Marinduque. Balikbayans and local tourists would always buy Rejano’s arrowroot cookies as pasalubongs to their loved ones in Manila and abroad.  Carmelita, the daughter of Crisostomo and Belen continued the tradition. She succeeded not only in bringing the Rejano’s arrowroot cookies to arrowroot lovers in Manila, but also in sustaining the livelihood of farmers in her province.
The Rejano’s Bakery is situated in Brgy. Banahaw , Sta Cruz , Marinduque. It is very easy for you to locate the store because it is located walking distance beside the church of the town. Moreover, the bakery is famous - any locals are aware if you ask where it is.
They are proud of their unique product. “We have Gluten Free, Low Sugar and highly digestible foods here” the sales lady said.  
Meanwhile, arrowroot is a starch obtained from the rhizomes (rootstock) of several tropical plants, traditionally Maranta arundinacea and the Province of Marinduque is abundant of that plant - they called it “Uraro" . Arrowroot tubers contain about 23% starch. “Madaming ganyan sa mga gubat, kinkuha lang namin yan, pero ngayon may taniman na. (In the forest area, arrowroot is wild and plenty plant and we just harvest it but there are now some plantations exist” a local said.  The starch has t been quite extensively adulterated with potato starch and other similar substances in creating cookies.
List of best seller Products:
Cookies in Tins (250g) Cookies in Tins with Pinipig (250g) Cookies in Box (250g) Cookies in Box with Pinipig (250g) Cookies in Small Box (100g) Cookies in Jar with Ribbon (Big 760g) Cookies in Jar with Ribbon (Med 460g) Cookies in Canister original (Big 300g) Cookies in Canister original (Med 250g) Cookies Low in Sugar (Oatmeal 310g) Cookies Low in Sugar (Cinnamon 270g) Cookies Low in Sugar (Pinipig 270g) Cookies in Big plastic pack (250g) Cookies in Small plastic pack (100g) Polvoron de Uraro (100g) Turones de Uraro (7pcs) Banana Chips (100g) Tamarind Candy (100g) Tamarind Balls (100g) How to make Arrowroot cookies?
8 ounces butter 8 ounces rice flour 8 ounces superfine sugar 6 ounces arrowroot 6 eggs
Beat the butter to a cream. Whisk the eggs to a strong froth. Add them to the butter, stir in the flour a little at a time and beat the mixture well. Break down all the lumps from the arrowroot and add it with the sugar to the other ingredients. Mix all well together, drop the dough on a buttered tin, in pieces the size of a shilling. Bake the biscuits about 15 minutes in a slow oven. Time: 15 minutes. Sufficient to make from 3 to 4 dozen biscuits.
“It melts in the mouth”, that’s how I defined the cookies. It was like eating the famous silvanas in Dumaguete City but the arrowroot cookies is not extremely sweet- tolerable for my taste bud. “Maganda to ipakain sa mga kaaway mo, tapos wag mong bigyan ng tubig (This is perfect treat for your enemy and don’t give water afterwards” Bonjo jokingly said. The cookies really require water to avoid being choked.
Rejano’s Bakery Brgy. Banahaw, Sta Cruz, Marinduque Tel (042)3211069 Email: marinduquedeli@yahoo.com
This article is part of “ Marinduque Challenge 2014”