Shiny math rocks! Yummy rice snacks! They’re better together, don’t you think so?
We’re trying to bring kakanin dice into the world! ❤️
This has been a really long process, especially with the current state of the world. But we’re a few steps closer, and we wanted to share a little bit more about what we plan for these yummy (but not edible!) dice!
But wait…what are kakanin?
Kakanin are what we locally call native delicacies usually made with glutinous rice or rice flour. It comes from the Tagalog word for rice, which is “kanin“.
These are common desserts or snacks found across Asia, with variations per country and culture. Here in the Philippines, it is most popular during Christmas, but it’s amazing as a year-round snack or dessert! (Angela never fails to get some puto bumbong when she can!)
The Kakanin Dice series
As avid fans of everything food, kakanin hold a special place in our hearts, and we want to immortalize them with amazing d20 rolls!
Each 8-piece resin dice set will contain the following dice, in standard 16mm sizes:
- one of each: d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and a percentile die
- two d20s (advantage and disadvantage)
These dice are not edible! Please do not eat them!
Our photographs on this page are standard 7-piece sets, but we’ll have 8-piece “final” sets soon. We’ve commissioned these 7-piece sets to see the colors we wanted and how the dice will ultimately look. The final 8-piece sets will have the d20s and d2s engraved with our logo.
Okay, okay… we’ll shut up now. We know you just want to see the shiny math rocks.
Here they are!
Kutsinta
Kutsinta is a type of steamed rice cake, made from tapioca or rice flour, brown sugar, and lye. They typically make this with annatto extract and steam it in small ramekins. Freshly grated coconut top off this subtly sweet cake. Here’s an easy kutsinta recipe!
Click to enlarge our prototype sample photos!
Puto
Puto is one of the most popular pasalubong available. It is also the most prevalent of the steamed rice cakes found in the Philippines, and traditionally made from slightly fermented rice dough. Many people eat this on its own as a dessert or snack, but this is also a great side to many savoury dishes like dinuguan (pork blood stew). Make puto with cheese with these instructions!
(You know what would be really cool? If we could only make more Puto sets in different colors…)
Click to enlarge our prototype sample photos!
Puto Bumbong
Puto bumbong is a personal favourite. They steam this purple pirurutong rice cake in bamboo tubes. (Pirurutong is a unique heirloom variety of glutinous rice and is deep purple in color!) Puto bumbong is usually served with a brush of butter, grated coconut, and generous brown sugar. Not quite traditional, but you can make this puto bumbong recipe at home!
Click to enlarge our prototype sample photos!
Sapin Sapin
Sapin sapin is one of the most colorful kakanin ever! It is a layered glutinous rice and coconut dessert made from rice flour, coconut milk, sugar, water, flavoring, and coloring. Latik (toasted, desiccated coconut flakes) is usually sprinkled on top. This recipe is missing the pink layer (my favourite!), but give this sapin sapin recipe a shot!
Click to enlarge our prototype sample photos!
Suman
Suman is a local rice cake made from glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk. This classic kakanin is often wrapped in banana leaves, coconut leaves, or buli/buri palm leaves for steaming. People usually eat this suman sprinkled with sugar, or glazed with a caramelized sugar sauce. Make some suman with the help of this recipe!
Click to enlarge our prototype sample photos!
When are we getting these dice?!
We wish we could give you a date, but alas, we have no Foresight T_T. Good things cannot be rushed, most especially because of this current global situation. But here’s what we can share with you:
- We are definitely doing international fulfillment, possibly through fulfillment centers outside of the Philippines. So yes, if you are international, we have every intention of sending you these dice.
- We’re planning to open up full or partial crowdfunding for at least three sets of these Kakanin Dice. We’re still working out the details whether we obtain services of Kickstarter-like services (Kickstarter is not available for us here in the Philippines) or do it grassroots-style through early-bird pre-orders. We’ll finalize the details soon and share these ASAP!
- Pre ordering these dice will get you great discounts, of course. But there are other great things too, depending on whether we can do a grassroots or formal crowdfunding campaign. At the very least, early backers/pre-orders will help us decide which three sets get produced! (We’d love to get all sets (and others) produced, but it all depends on a lot of things like how much you guys want the other dice, and, well, money.)
We’re working on getting everything sorted so we can share more information.
Can we share more Kakanin Dice updates with you?
We’ve set up a small mailing list where we can keep you updated how things go before we launch our crowdfunding campaign. But that’s not all we plan to share on the mailing list!
You will get:
- Updates for when we open Kakanin Dice for orders/crowdfunding. You’ll find out about it first and get a head start for any early bird promotions we might be able to do!
- Your voice heard when it comes to which sets get priority. We’re ironing out the details of how the crowdfunding part will work, but if we need to set early priorities on which dice set get produced, we will take your choices into account first.
- Some behind-the-scenes stories and anecdotes as we go through this journey of getting our dream dice made.
We really want to share this journey with you guys. If all that sounds like something you’re interested in, please sign up below! We’ll never spam or give up your email address, we promise.
Q: If I’m already in your updates mailing list, should I still sign up below? A: Yes! We’ll have more targeted information here than in the general updates list :)
Let’s get Kakanin Dice released soon!
