How are herbs grown in the Philippines superior to herbs grown elsewhere?

The Philippines is a tropical climate that enjoys year-round growing seasons. It is an archipelago of over 8000 islands, formed mostly by volcanic activity. As volcanoes erupted to form these islands, they brought nutrient rich soil once buried in the sea up to the top. Even on our farm on Mt. Banahaw (a non-active volcano), as we plant our crops we constantly find seashells buried in the soil.

The Philippines is also located in the "typhoon belt," enduring as many as 26 typhoons a year during its rainy season. Plants that survive these annual typhoons therefore develop strong genetic traits. Many of the herbs found in the Philippines actually grow wild. The native Philippine papaya, for example, is found growing wild throughout the Philippines. Japanese research done on the Philippine papaya in comparison to other varieties of papaya that have been imported, have found that the amount of the digestive enzyme "papain" is almost ten times more concentrated than other varieties of papaya. Research shows that plants grown wild in their natural environment are richer in nutrient and vitamin content than plants cultivated outside their natural environment. The reason is the soil, where the plants derive most of their nutrients. Papaya cultivated in the southern United States, for example, would not be nearly as nutrient rich as papaya grown wild in its natural tropical environment.

With the rich soil here in the Philippines however, even certain cultivated plants do very well. For example, we grow carrots on Mt. Banahaw. Our carrots just seem more juicier and fragrant than the carrots we used to grow back in our garden in the US.