RED HOT CHILLI PEPPERS REALLY ROCK (The Fruit, Not The Rock Band)

       “You know, the only thing that it does to you is make you horny.”

       Somebody told me this while I was busy chopping red chili peppers to put in a just-cooked plate of sisig. “I beg to disagree," I said, “yes, chili pepper is considered an aphrodisiac but they do have nutritional benefits.”

       “They have none.”

       I didn’t like arguments so I would have just let it pass, but then I thought, chili peppers had been making most of my meals more appetizing, so it’s high time that I write it a tribute and tell the world of its health benefits (of course, a lot of people had written about it and I would just copy-paste them here.)

       Chili peppers are known to have:

       Vitamin C

       Vitamin B6

       Vitamin K1

       Potassium

       Copper

       Vitamin A

       And are known to:

       Help protect your heart

       Help you burn fat and lose weight

       Fight inflammation

       Help lower high blood pressure

       Fight cancer

       Fight migraine and sinusitis

       See, chili peppers not only burn your tongue but also help you become healthier. But alack! There’s a downside to it, for these nutrients to really benefit you, you have to eat quite a copious amount of chili peppers, which many consider a little unsafe (it will cause you stomach troubles, inflammation or diarrhea or some allergies). And there isn’t a lot of people who can eat more than two chili peppers in one sitting. I have been partaking of it for years and I can only have one in every meal. And no, I don't put chili pepper on champorado.

       But eating a chili pepper or two will still be beneficial. Aside from, of course, making your food more enjoyable, and the small bits of vitamins it will give you, it will also tweak your libido. Chili peppers have capsaicin, a chemical the increases blood circulation. But I think for this to work, you first need something that will provoke your libido, like a pretty girlfriend or a wife lying seductively on your bed wearing nothing but a pair of earrings and a come-to-bed look in her eyes—I  have neither so chili peppers really are no use for me as an aphrodisiac. I don’t think chili peppers will put you in heat while watching wholesome cartoons.

       And if you’re a Filipino and you’re wondering why chili pepper is not in the famous Tagalog folk song Bahay Kubo, it is because chili pepper or sili (as it is called in the vernacular) is considered a fruit.

       A fruit that is so mouth-watering and juicy that it burns.