Trying to learn the know-how of soil composting can sometimes spring delightful surprises. One day, the rotten fruit and vegetable peelings and wastes I buried in our backyard produced a young papaya sapling. Alas, it was not the “fruiting” variety and I just let it wither.
Then just a month ago, my wife happened to notice a distinct little plant growing amidst the overgrown forget-me-not shrub in our plant box. It turned out to be a siling labuyo plant. It is now full grown.
Most delightful of all, it is a “giving” plant.
From time to time, I harvest fresh little chilies from it. Every full meal I use two chilies as condiment to spice up whatever dish is on my plate. I no longer have a need for my bottle of hot chili powder or hot chili sauce. What for, when I can have freshly picked chilies?
That’s not all. When my wife likes to enrich the flavor of chicken tinola or sinigang, she just picks leaves from the same plant. I’m not a cook but I’m sure there are other culinary uses for the siling labuyo leaves.
For those who have been overlooking this native chili plant, you’ll be interested to know that it has an oh-some story.
Siling labuyo is native to the Philippines. Tunay na Pinoy. It belongs to the species Capsicum. In English, it is called cayenne pepper. The Tagalog name literally translates to “wild chili.”
The plant we now have is as high as my shoulders, and I’m five foot five. The leaves are irregular-oval in shape with a pointed end. Its triangular shaped fruits grow pointing upwards and have slightly rounded tips. The fruit averages at a mere 0.20 inches in length (1-2 centimeters). This is why it is generally accepted as the world’s smallest hot pepper.
Mexicans take pride in Jalapeno, Pabloan, Habanero, Ancho and Serrano peppers known to be the spiciest ones that you can find in the world. The degree of heat is globally measured in terms of Scoville units. Do you know that the siling labuyo has a heat rating of 80,000 to 100,000 Scoville units, while the famous jalapeño pepper merely ranges from 2,500 to 8,000 Scoville units?
So we Filipinos have something to brag about: siling labuyo may the smallest, but in the same way that Pacquiao’s fist once downed Mexican fighters one after the other, siling labuyo packs a mighty undeniable spicy punch that leaves Mexican chilies in the dust.
Just a tiny piece of siling labuyo can wake up your gustatory glands so that no matter how bland or ordinary the dish, it will taste delicious. That’s of course just me saying.
But the one big reason I have made it part of my daily meal is because of its awesome health benefits. This is something close to my heart as a senior citizen.I began eating chili-spiced food after someone who’s into natural medicine told me to eat siling labuyo every meal to prevent a stroke. I believed him because he was a former executive of a multinational pharmaceutical company and he knew a lot of things the layman doesn’t know about synthetic medicines.
You see there’s an active component in chili peppers like siling labuyo called capsaicin, a biologically active compound that gives chili fruits their spicy flavor.
Capsaicin promotes blood flow to tissues by lowering blood pressure and stimulating the release of compounds that help expand your blood vessels. This ability is highly beneficial because it helps prevent blood clots that sometimes cause stroke.
Capsaicin also helps boost our metabolism and keeps cholesterol level down. It can also boosts feel-good chemicals in our body, like serotonin.
Traditional folk medical healers use siling labuyo to treat arthritis, rheumatism, dyspepsia, flatulence and even toothache and other body pains.
This tiny herbal fruit can do everything!
It includes its potential role as a driver of the economy, a factor in building our so-called “soft power.”
Consider this. Today, the hot sauce industry is now one of the fastest growing industries in the world. In 2022, the Global Chili Sauce Market was valued at $5.11 billion. It is projected to reach $9.01 billion by 2031.
There’s also the Dry Chilies Market, which this year is estimated to be worth $1.52 billion. It is expected to grow to $2.04 billion by 2028.
It begs the question, how come we are not a global competitor in this hot market? Are we being left behind by the profitable spice train?
Let’s wake up and combine our efforts and resources to make siling labuyo one of the hottest selling global products from the Philippines. Let’s give Sriracha and Tabasco and the Mexican and Cajun hot sauce products a run for their money in the world market.
The only problem is that this potential goose that lays a golden egg is now endangered. It’s becoming harder and harder to find siling labuyo chilies in our local markets. It’s because less and less farmers are cultivating the plant due to the proliferation of other chili varieties, which are more preferred by customers.
Thus, we urgently need enlightened lawmakers to champion a law that will protect our endangered native siling labuyo species. Let’s make sure to provide attractive incentives to farmers and food manufacturers.
Let’s use our much-vaunted Filipino creativity and ingenuity to use siling labuyo leaves to come up with siling labuyo herbal teas in the same way we have pito-pito, banaba, ampalaya, tanglad and other organic herbal tea concoctions?
Why not a siling labuyo ointment or capsule for pain relief or for improving blood circulation and preventing stroke?
Perhaps, I’m just the proverbial lone voice in the wilderness. But in the light of my amateurish soil composting, I am planting the seed of an idea, which I hope someone else will notice and cultivate it to full growth.
Let’s value the lowly siling labuyo as a national treasure. Let’s take inspiration from it. After all, siling labuyo is us. A puny, overlooked, sturdy, tough nation that packs a lot of talent power. May ang-hot! Never underestimate the power of small things.
