Siling labuyo

'Siling Labuyo'
'Siling Labuyo' pepper. The small triangular fruits of siling labuyo are distinctively borne pointing upwards, like other Capsicum frutescens cultivars.
GenusCapsicum
SpeciesCapsicum frutescens
Cultivar'Siling Labuyo'
Heat Very hot
Scoville scale80,000 - 100,000 SHU
Siling labuyo at a Philippine supermarket

Siling labuyo is a small chili pepper cultivar that developed in the Philippines after the Columbian Exchange. It belongs to the species Capsicum frutescens and is characterized by triangular fruits that grow pointing upwards.[1] The fruits and leaves are used in traditional Philippine cuisine. The fruit is pungent, ranking at 80,000 to 100,000 heat units in the Scoville Scale.[2]

The cultivar name is Tagalog, and literally translates to "wild chili."[1] It is also known simply as labuyo or labuyo chili.[3] Thai bird's eye chili are commonly confused with Labuyo in the Philippines, though they are cultivars of two different species, and much larger fruit.[4] Siling labuyo is one of two common kinds of local chili found in the Philippines, the other being siling haba (a Capsicum annuum cultivar).[5]

Siling labuyo is generally accepted as the world's smallest hot pepper, as the fruit often measures a mere 0.20 in (0.51 cm) in length by 0.10 in (0.25 cm) in width.[6]

It is listed in the Ark of Taste international catalog of endangered heritage foods of the Philippines by the Slow Food movement.[7]

  1. ^ a b DeWitt, D.; Bosland, P.W. (2009). The Complete Chile Pepper Book: A Gardener's Guide to Choosing, Growing, Preserving, and Cooking. Timber Press. ISBN 978-0881929201.
  2. ^ "2018 Scoville Scale: Ultimate List of Pepper's & Their Scoville Heat Units". Chasing Chilli. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  3. ^ Loresco, Shadz (July 11, 2015). "'Superhots' spicing up PH chili industry". Rappler. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  4. ^ "Siling Labuyo: The Filipino Bird's Eye". PepperScale. April 30, 2017.
  5. ^ Frial-McBride, Mary Grace (2016). "Extraction of resins from Capsicum annuum var. longum (Siling haba) for the study of their potential anti-microbial activities" (PDF). Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research. 8 (3): 117–127. ISSN 0975-7384. S2CID 41092438. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 24, 2018. Retrieved March 24, 2018.
  6. ^ "The World's Smallest Hot Pepper". Boopolo. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
  7. ^ "Siling Labuyo". Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity. Retrieved December 19, 2018.