Peppers, Sweet

From late summer until the first frost kills the plants, a variety of sweet peppers will be in your shares. We grow several varieties of bell peppers as well as a red pimiento, a long red sweet pepper called Nardello, and a small tapered red pepper named Gypsy.

Cooking Tips

All of our sweet peppers can be used relatively interchangeably, but with some experimenting you may find their different qualities are better in different recipes. Earlier in the season the bell peppers in your share will still be green, and as time goes on and they are able to ripen their rainbow of colors will begin appearing. All of our sweet peppers can be eaten raw, diced on a salad or sliced for an appetizer plate, or served with hummus or dip. Try baking them on a pizza, making a hearty soup, or a nice salsa. Add peppers to a stir-fry or saute for just a few minutes to preserve their flavor, nutrients and a little bit of crunch. Stuffed peppers are also delicious, or toss them in oil and roast them in the oven to enjoy them on their own. Try them out in Mexican or Southwestern recipes, as well as Indian or Middle Eastern foods.

Storage Tips

Peppers will store in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator for over a week. If they are still partially green and you want to allow them to continue ripening, you can leave them in a warm and dry part of your kitchen for a day or two. To store peppers longer, try roasting them in the oven and freezing them in a plastic bag.

Nutrition

These peppers are high in vitamins A, C, E and K, as well as B6, folic acid, antioxidants, potassium, thiamin, riboflavin, and iron.

History

Peppers are native to Central and South America, where they have been cultivated for over 7,000 years. They are a solanum, in the same family as tomatoes, eggplant, and potatoes. When Columbus tasted hot peppers upon his arrival here, he made one of his typical naming blunders. Thinking their flavor similar to black peppercorns, and believing himself to be in the East Indies, he called the plant peppers. Since then, hot peppers have become popular all over the world, where as sweet peppers remain more popular here in the Americas than anywhere else.

Field Notes

Peppers like it hot! Plastic ground cover is used on many northern farms to warm up the soil for heat loving crops. While we are not a plastic-free farm, we put careful consideration into its use. We will experiment in 2009 with planting some peppers in unheated hoop houses. The hoop houses are made of plastic but are multi purpose structures that get many seasons of use.