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Next: 24 Dec 2026

Noche Buena and queso de bola

The Filipino Christmas Eve feast after midnight Mass, with a red-waxed ball of Edam, the queso de bola, beside the ham.

A tile drawn for this day, not a photograph.

Cheeses for Noche Buena and queso de bola

In the Philippines, the Christmas season starts in September, and its peak is Noche Buena, the family feast after midnight Mass on 24 December. Two foods are almost compulsory: a glazed ham and queso de bola, a ball of Edam-style cheese in red wax. The cheese came with Spanish and American trade and is now a firm part of the season, sliced with ham on pandesal or grated over ensaïmada and bibingka. Fresh kesong puti, the soft white carabao-milk cheese of Laguna and Bulacan, sometimes joins it. Queso de bola is also a popular Christmas gift between families.

The cheeses

EdamQueso de bola, the red-waxed ball on every Noche Buena table.Kesong putiSoft white carabao-milk cheese, eaten with pandesal.
About this page

Written by the EveryCheese desk with AI assistance. Background: "Noche Buena" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly digest

Every Monday: seven cheeses you may not know, the cheese days of the week ahead, and one dish explained step by step.