Halo-halo, also spelled haluhalo, Filipino for "mixed", is a popular cold dessert in the Philippines made up of crushed ice, evaporated milk or condensed milk, and various ingredients including: ube, sweetened beans, coconut strips, sago, gulaman (agar), pinipig rice, boiled taro or soft yams in cubes, slices or portions of fruit preserves and other root crop preserves, flan, and often topped with a scoop of ube ice cream. Halo-halo is considered to be the unofficial national dessert of the Philippines. The term "halo-halo" literally means "mix-mix" in English, but is ungrammatical; despite this, it is the more common form of the dessert's name. By extension, this spelling has come to describe any object or situation that is composed of a similar, colorful mélange of ingredients. Ctto.