Potong means “cut” in Malay, referring to rectangular popsicles that are cut into portions from a bigger block. Made of coconut milk, skimmed milk, corn starch and sugar as basic ingredients, they fused it with flavours such as yam, durian and the most popular, red bean.
“In the 50s, there was an ice cream called “9 inch half” because its length was nine and a half inch. It was this long and costs only five cents! People would buy and share,” says Mr Ong (he declines to reveal his full name), a potong ice cream distributor. “Potong is just a shorter and improved version of “9 inch half” that came about in the 60s or 70s.”
The popularity of potong ice cream reached its peak in late 80s and early 90s. Then, the manual production – where coconut was grated by hand and durian flesh was pick out from its shell one at a time – could not keep up with the demand. “My father used to keep the doors closed, pretending they were not yet in the shop, because the vendors would literally fight over the limited stock,” says Mr Jeffery Yap, director of Hong Kong Creameries, one of the two remaining traditional potong manufacturers in Singapore.
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