In our office garden in Cebu, we have this most amazing bush of siling labuyo or kulikot (sp?)… It’s found a nice spot in the yard, and has grown to roughly 4.5-5.0 feet tall, and currently has what seem like hundreds of fruit. But oddly, instead of starting off green and turning red, they seem to start as a creamy white. It isn’t the first time I’ve seen these, in fact, I had an “albino” chili post before, here. And you cannot imagine the DOZENS of emails I received over the years from botanists, horticulturalists, and seed hunters from ALL OVER THE PLANET who just HAD to HAVE seeds to this unusual variety. Some chefs even emailed, totally intrigued by the aesthetic possibilities of such chilies. I had to shrug and say it was just a single potted plant in our front yard and it had since passed away…

At any rate, I am NOT a PLANTMAN, so I don’t know anything with authority in this area, but I am almost certain this creamy white phase has to do with a lack of minerals in the soil. Locals in Cebu tell me this color fascination is absolutely nothing to be excited about, and that in many parts of Cebu, chilies turn from white to red, no green phase. I must say, however, that it makes for a STUNNING sight when a bush nearly as tall as I am in studded with fruit. I took these particular photos several months ago, but today, the effect is 10 times greater. Oddly, birds don’t seem to touch these chilies, but nearby I have an experimental patch of Thai chilies that turned out much smaller than their original parents (that seems to happen a lot in the Philippines) that birds attack with a vengeance. :)

I like to think of this as my private source of chili for sawsawan. It’s incredibly satisfying to hit the lunch hour, have something simple grilled or fried and realize, “Oh, I need a chili for my vinegar dip” and dash out to pick one or two right off the bush. I really wish I had a green thumb, and could maintain a say 1000-2000 square meter kitchen garden… that would spawn another blog alongside this one… Maybe call it Kitchen Garden Cebu. Like I had any free time left to do that just now… :)

Photo of grasshopper, watching the chilies change color. Now WHEN was the last time you ran around a healthy lawn trying to catch grasshoppers? I used to love doing that as a kid, and in my least PC phase kept them in bottles with the caps punctured by a nail for breathing holes. I wonder how many grasshoppers I inevitably killed as a kid. Now the kids kill animals on their ipads. :( :)

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