Updated 2/7/24: Zone 9B, FL
Post Outline:

1. Piper Sarmentosum General Information
2. How I Grow Lá Lốt
3. Harvesting
4. Culinary Uses & Recipes
5. Photos of Growth Progress
6. Sellers: Where and How to Buy
7. TX/FL Restaurant recommendations
8. Institutional Research Links

1. General Information

• Scientific name: Piper Sarmentosum
• Vietnamese name: Lá Lốt
• Thai name: Chaplu
• English name: Piper Lolot
• Native: Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Laos, India
• Perennial herbaceous medicinal plant

2. How “I” Grow Piper Sarmentosum

I have been growing Piper Sarmentosum for four years now from a rooted plant. Some gardeners say it’s aggressive and spreads. For me it does not at all since I harvest and thin out the plants every four months. The plant does not grow well in containers. When planted in a pot, Lá Lốt, seems to always attract large green scales all over the stems. It doesn’t seem to affect the leaves.

When I later moved my Lá Lốt into the ground in filtered sunlight by my starfruit tree, it grows so much better than when planted in full sun. One single rooted stem would spread by runners to cover an area of about 4×4 square foot in one year.

3. Harvesting

Lá Lốt is grown for its edible leaves. When the plant spread and have enough of big leaves, that’s when I would harvest them.

4. Culinary Uses

Lá lốt is grown for culinary purposes in Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos.

Vietnamese cuisine: “Bò Lá Lốt”

A particular Vietnamese cuisine called “bò lá lốt” consists of minced beef seasoned with spices and finely minced lemongrass mixed into a paste, then wrapped with lá lốt leaves. A toothpick is used to pierced through the rolled bò lá lốt to secure the leaves and minced beef paste together, then chargrilled. The chargrilled bò lá lốt is served with Vietnamese sweet and sour fish sauce and sometimes accompany with thin vermicelli rice noodles and other fresh herbs and greens. It’s one of my favorite Vietnamese specialty dish that I have not mastered yet.

Thai cuisine: Miang Kham

I went to a Thai temple in Kissimmee, Florida and had an opportunity to eat a healthy natural snack using fresh lá lốt leaves. I Iater learned it is called “Miang Kham”, a traditional Thai leaf snack. This simple Thai snack consists of dried shrimp, roasted peanuts, roasted coconut flakes, sweet tamarind pulp, lime, fresh ginger, and red onions. One bite all together creates that balance flavor of unami, crunchiness, sweetness, zestiness, and a hint of spiciness. I love it!

(Self reminder: I need to make note my friend Sujana in Kissimmee makes this this yummy treat. I think it’s all about the dipping sauce. LOL! I have all the other ingredients.)

5. Photos of my lá lốt plant:

to be updated

6. Where to Buy Piper Sarmentosum / lá lốt plant:

• I offer to sell and ship rooted lá lốt plant for a flat rate of $25 (with packaging and shipping included). The plant will be in a 4-inch pot size. I also include extra rooted cuttings too. I ship within United States except to Alaska and Hawaii. Thank you for supporting my little garden.
• David Scanlon of Practical Plants Florida in Clermont, Florida sells it.
• Hoa’s Nursery in Apopka, Florida sells it.
• Terrence Gross of stricklymedicinalseeds.com sells it.
• It is a common edible plant for a Vietnamese gardener in Florida, Texas and California. If you use Facebook, search for lá lốt plants on Marketplace.

7. Restaurant Recommendations

(Please use Google Maps to find the address and restaurant information)

Florida and Texas restaurant recommendations that serve Vietnamese bò lá lốt:

• Orlando, FL: Huong Viet Restaurant near Tan Tien Market and Enson Market

• Orlando, FL: Phở 54 located inside Lotte Plaza Market food court. This restaurant sometimes have it and sometimes do not.
• Garland, TX: Vietnamese restaurants inside Saigon Mall food court always have bò lá lốt
• Garland, TX: Đồng Quê Restaurant, next to Super Truong Nguyen market
• TBA: Feel free to comment your restaurant recommendation for bò lá lốt

Florida restaurant(s) that serve Thai Miang Kham snack:

• Winter Park, FL: Orchid Thai restaurant
• Feel free to comment your restaurant recommendation if it serve Miang Kham snack at the restaurant in Florida or Texas.

8. Institutional Research Links

1: Piper sarmentosum (wild betel leaf, daun kaduk) is very similar in appearance to Piper betel (belel leaf, daun sireh) referred in India as paan and the two are often confused.” I have even seen many local gardeners gets confused with the two types. One that uses the Piper Sarmentosum for Vietnamese and Thai cuisine can easily sniff and tell the differences between the two leaves. The smell of the two leaves are very distinct and can not be mistaken. The following link is a lab research articule that helps breaks down the anatomy differences between Piper Sarmentosum and Piper Betal: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Comparative-anatomy-of-Piper-sarmentosum-and-P-betle_tbl1_233871110

2. Research base article on medicinal properties and uses of Piper Sarmentosum from University of Malaysia is at:

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pharmacology/articles/10.3389/fphar.2022.971443/full

I am not a botanist nor a scientist so you won’t be seeing me providing scientific statement about any plant from my blog. I only try to find reliable and accredited online sources.