Checking my blog’s statistics has been a vital part of my weekend routine. When 2016 started, I noticed that two of my oldest blog posts about the fruit called sampinit have been consistently appearing on my going viral posts. They have been dramatically delivering a lot of hits since the second week of January, which led me to analyzing the hype. The “search terms” helped me a lot.
Based on the terms being searched on Google, I would say people nowadays have a growing interest in exotic fruits that give medical wonders to health. Sampinit seem to be on the top list at least recently. I monitored the search terms for ten weeks now and sampinit related terms such as sampinit flower, sampinit fruit, sampinit taste, where to find sampinit, sampinit jam, sampinit scientific name, and sampinit medicinal usages appear three to five times a week.
As a result, I was compelled to make another blog post after realizing that I did not yet share a crisp photo of a sampinit flower. There was one, which you can see here, but not good enough to complement the amazing fruit: The Rarest Wild Raspberry of the Philippines.
It pays to recheck the photos in the archive once in a while. I was surprised that I did save a good photo of sampinit’s flower.
I also decided to get up close with this wonder, now fortune, fruit of mine to give readers a worthy visit to the blog.
Sampinit is a climbing, straggling, prickly shrub, reaching a height of two to three meters, with branches covered by wooly hairs. Stems, buds, petioles, and lower surfaces of the leaves are velvety. Leaves are thin, flat, usually three-to five-lobed, deeply cordate at the base, broadly ovate, and five to fifteen centimeters wide. Upper surface is hairy and prominently reticulate when dry. Flowers are about two centimeters across, usually in small clusters, and borne in racemes at the axils of leaves and at the ends of branches. Calyx lobes are ovate to lanceolate, entire or pectinate. Petals are obovate, white, and shorter than the calyx segments. Berries are bright red, about omcneentimeter in diameter, succulent, slightly acid, with numerous carpels, and hairy receptacle.
It has seven scientific names: Rubus moluccanus Linn., Rubus commersonii Poir., Rubus jamaicensis Blanco, Rubus comintanus Blanco, Rubus apoensis Elm., Rubus rosifolium Sm., and Rubus minusculus Lev. & Van. This plant is found in the Mindanao, Palawan, and Northern Luzon forests at medium and higher altitudes as well as in wet regions at low altitudes. It is actually more popularly known as sapinit in the Philippines. They are also found in the mountains of India through Malaya to Australia and Fiji.
Studies show that the fruit extracts exhibit, aside from Anthocyanin, Antioxidant, Anti-Inflammatory, moderate COX inhibitory activity and the greatest potential to inhibit cancer cell growth (colon, breast, lung, and gastric human tumor cells). The high anthocyanin content of the fruits suggest a health benefit for a functional food.
Reference, Videos, and Related Articles
Sapinit (stuartexchange.com)
Sapinit Berry Review (Weird Fruit Explorer in the Philippines, Episode 87)
Sapinit: Philippine Wild Raspberry (Mag-Agri Tayo TV Show)
Sapinit: Philippines’ New Weapon Against CANCER (filipinonurse.org)
Sapinit Against Cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease (foodrecap.net)
Bloggy: 7 Philippine Fruits You Probably Don’t Know (bumpeyns.blogspot.com)
Philippine Raspberry Sapinit Picking (guiltlessgetaways.blogspot.com)
STORIES OF THE WANDERING FEET & MIND 
The sampinit or sapinit sounds like a valuable plant, especially since it has many health benefits. It looks like an intricate plant from your lovely photo and the way you describe it: the berries are bright in their own colours and the leaves bear strong patterns and their own hair too. I’m guessing it’s not a plant that is readily available – as you said, it usually grows in forests – and as such, it costs quite a bit to get your hands on it.
I too check my blog stats…but more like every day. I should stop stressing about it so often 😀
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Yes, Mabel. The rarity of the fruit makes it pricy; nevertheless, the health benefits are more than enough to buy it.
Stats helps us analyze what kind of post/s we should work on more…
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That’s very interesting, thanks for sharing. I’ve never heard of it before but now I’ve learnt something new.
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Me too, Christina. Had I not become a hiker, I would have not learned about this fruit.
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I’ve never even heard of this fruit. Does it taste like any other berry? Masarap ba?
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Yes, Boots. It tastes like strawberry, only a lot smaller.
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Masarap pag madamihan ang kakainin mo kasi maliliit lang sila. Pero mas masarap pag naging jam na siya.
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My first time to have seen it. Nice flowers.
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It’s actually a lost smaller in flesh. Nevertheless, it’s quite a beauty.
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