Calamay

Overview

Calamay is Jagna’s signature delicacy and one of Bohol’s most recognised food souvenirs. The sticky sweet confection is made from ground glutinous rice, coconut milk, and brown sugar, cooked down to a thick, dark paste. Jagna’s version is traditionally packed in coconut shell halves (“bagol”) sealed with coloured crepe paper — red for the classic flavor, purple for the ube (purple yam) variant — a presentation that has become iconic and is sold to travellers passing through the town’s port.

Traditional production: pilit (glutinous rice) is ground with coconut milk into a smooth paste; separately, brown sugar is boiled with coconut milk to make a syrup called latik; the two are combined and stirred continuously over heat for four to six hours to prevent scorching, historically over wood-fired stoves by workers known locally as calamaderas. The Jagna Calamay Producers Cooperative has introduced motorized stirrers and rice-husk-fueled furnaces to raise output while keeping the process consistent. Besides the classic and ube variants, ginger-infused calamay and versions topped with crushed peanuts or pinipig (pounded young rice) are also made. Modern plastic containers are used alongside the traditional coconut-shell packaging.

Besides Ching’s Calamay, the Jagna Calamay Producers Cooperative (JACAMACO) traces its roots to the 1980s Jagna Calamay Makers and Vendors Association, formalised as a cooperative in 2001 with 65 members and, as of a 2025 partner visit, 43 members drawn from barangays Bunga-Ilaya, Pagina, Canjulao, and Can-upao. It was formally registered with the Cooperative Development Authority on March 22, 2020 (Registration No. 9520-07013728) and operates a government-funded Common Service Facility. Pre-pandemic, the cooperative produced roughly four times a week, using about 120 kilos of glutinous rice per batch to yield around 1,000 packs (roughly 800 in plastic canisters, 200 in the signature red-sealed coconut shell). Individual home producers also operate outside the cooperative, such as Pilang Bajao of Barangay Bunga Ilaya, who has made calamay for over 30 years and takes bulk orders by phone.

[TO ENRICH: current (post-pandemic) production volume — the cooperative’s daily/weekly output figures above are pre-2020 and may no longer be accurate]

Location

Jagna, Bohol. Jagna is a port municipality on the southeastern coast of Bohol, approximately 70 kilometres from Tagbilaran by road. The calamay trade is concentrated around the port area and town centre.

Ching’s Calamay and the Jagna Calamay Producers Cooperative are both based in Barangay Can-Upao, along the Bohol Circumferential Road (the cooperative’s Common Service Facility is known locally as the Calamay CSF Building). Additional vendors sell at the Jagna Public Market and from an annex building beside Jagna Port.

Getting There

Jagna is accessible from Tagbilaran by bus or van (approximately 1.5 to 2 hours). It is also a ferry port served by routes from Cebu (SuperCat) and Mindanao. Arriving passengers often purchase calamay directly at the port-side stalls before departing.

Practical Info

• Price range: roughly ₱80–250 per coconut-shell unit depending on size and producer (lower end at Tagbilaran’s public market, higher end near tourist-oriented shops); larger or specialty packs can run up to around ₱400
• Packaging: coconut shell halves are the traditional format; newer plastic containers also used
• Shelf life: short — traditionally packed calamay is generally best consumed within a few days once opened; unopened, sealed coconut-shell calamay is commonly cited as lasting roughly 1–2 weeks at room temperature (one Jagna cooperative manager cited a 12-day expiry without added preservatives). Refrigeration extends it further but firms up the texture.
• Best-known producer: Ching’s Calamay (also listed in BPTO inventory)

What to Expect

Purchasing calamay in Jagna is a transaction tied to the port and road travel. Vendors operate near the ferry terminal and along the national road. The product is dense and very sweet; a small portion is the typical serving. It functions both as a take-home souvenir and a snack eaten on the spot with bread.

Notes

• Source: BPTO Table 11 — Inventory of Tourist Attractions
• BPTO classification: “Shopping” / “Souvenirs and Delicacies”
• Related entity: Ching’s Calamay (Jagna) — a named production facility for the same product
• The calamay-making tradition is also documented as a separate cultural tourism activity in Alburquerque (see: calamay-making)
• Calamay Kalami! The Sweet Heart of Jagna, Bohol, accessed 2026-07-17. (Re-checked 2026-07-28: source for shelf-life note, Ching’s Calamay and Jagna Calamay Producers Cooperative mailing addresses/contact numbers, and the machinery/yield detail already in the Overview.)
• Where to Find the Best Kalamay in Bohol: A Local’s Guide, accessed 2026-07-28. Source for current price-range figures (₱80–400 depending on size/producer/venue).
• Calamay- A Popular Delicacy of Bohol (Cooperative Development Authority), accessed 2026-07-28. Source for JACAMACO’s CDA registration (No. 9520-07013728, registered 2020-03-22) and pre-pandemic production figures (~4x/week, ~120kg glutinous rice per run, ~1,000 packs). Note: the PDF is a scanned/compressed file that WebFetch could not parse directly; the text used here was retrieved via a search-engine cached extract of the same file and treated as provisional — worth re-verifying against the PDF directly in a future pass if the file becomes fetchable.
• NV Delegates Visit Jagna Calamay Producer Cooperative in Bohol (Aldersgate College), accessed 2026-07-28. Source for JACAMACO founding history (1980s Jagna Calamay Makers and Vendors Association → formalised 2001 with 65 members → 43 members as of this 2025 article) and member barangays.
• The Jagna Calamay: A Labor of Love, accessed 2026-07-28. Source for independent producer Pilang Bajao (Barangay Bunga Ilaya).
• Research note (2026-07-28): The prior [FACT NEEDED: source profile lists this attraction by name and classification only...] tag was a leftover process marker describing the entity’s original enrichment state, not an actual missing fact — removed since the Overview/Practical Info sections below it already supersede it with sourced detail.
• Unresolved: current (post-2020/post-pandemic) production volume for the cooperative — only pre-pandemic figures (per the CDA PDF above) were found. Tried: “Jagna Calamay Producers Cooperative members kilos per day production volume” and “JACAMACO current production 2025/2026” via web + Exa search; found governance/membership updates (Aldersgate College, 2025) but no updated throughput numbers. Tag left in place in the Overview section for a future pass — try CENRO/BPTO or DTI Bohol provincial office records, or a direct call to the cooperative contact numbers listed above, next time.