Bell pepper

Bell pepper is a famous chili pepper with a strong peppery flavor but without heat. It’s widely used for culinary purposes across the world.

Here is more about the bell peppers, the facts, the best recipes to try with them, and their storing methods.

Most of us might have tasted it or cooked it already. However, some of us might wonder about its zero-spice level property.

To put it clearly, this post provides you with complete information that you may want to know about bell peppers.

Here, we talk about the facts and we try to cover up the topics to clear your doubts that you have all these days about these peppers.

What is bell pepper?

These are substantial chili peppers with a thick wall, glossy outer skin, and a hollow inside. Its shape resembles a bell, that’s one of the main reasons for inheriting its name. 

Bell pepper belongs to the 'Capsicum annuum' family that does not produce capsaicin(heat-causing factor). Hence, these are considered sweet peppers, and one of the vital chili peppers that has zero heat units in the Scoville scale.

They are also known as ‘capsicum’ and ‘sweet pepper’. These are available in different colors, green, yellow, orange, and red. That shows the different phases of its life.

An intro to Bell pepper

Bell peppers belong to Mexico, central and northern South America. And later cultivated across the globe around the 14th century. Till then, it played a predominant role in enriching or flavoring the food. And an essential ingredient trusted by chefs and home cooks holistically.

These measures around 4-5 inches in lengthwise and 4-5 inches breadthwise. It has a thick flesh, crunchy texture, and tastes mild, with bold flavors.

The inner part has a thick white membrane with clusters of seeds. And both the membrane and the seeds do not possess heat.

Different types of bell pepper

There are multiple colors of bell pepper available in the market now. Generally, green, yellow, orange, and red peppers are grown and harvested in their respective phases.

The young, tender bell peppers look green in color, but as they mature they turn yellow, and orange. And would finally turn to red color. And the red bell pepper is the developed and ripened pepper.

Purple, brown, and white bell peppers are also available in the above four colors.

Are bell peppers hot?

No, these peppers have no heat, as there is no heat-producing agent(capsaicin). Furthermore, it has zero Scoville scale units in the Scoville scale, a unit to measure the spice level in the pepper.

What does this taste like?

We have already discussed the different phases of bell pepper, young to ripe. The unripe, young peppers turn from slightly bitter to sweet as they mature.

Green pepper tastes with mild bitterness. The yellow and orange peppers taste with mild sweetness. And red peppers taste sweet and more flavorful.

Are bell peppers fruits or vegetables?

As per botanical theories, peppers are classified as fruits, whereas these are considered vegetables in the culinary world.

Are red bell peppers spicy?

The color of the red bell pepper may give a fiery look, but actually it is not spicy at all. Any bell pepper of its kind does not have the heat.

How to store the bell peppers?

At room temperature. The flesh of these is thick and moist hence it does not keep well when stored at room temperature.

In the refrigerator.

In the freezer. However, these are fabulous when stored frozen. You may freeze them in two forms. 

Firstly, you may core, dice, and pack them in an airtight container or zip-lock bag. It is very convenient to toss them while cooking for the recipes like pepperonata, capsicum curry.

On the other hand, you may freeze them as whole pepper. This method is very helpful when making stuffed peppers like lentil stuffed peppers.

As roasted. You may roast over stove top or in the oven same as roasting jalapeno. It's handy when making salsa or sauce.

As powdered. A popular version is usually called paprika. This has a longer storage life of all the above methods.

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