Bell Pepper

plants · vegetables · berries · colorful

Rainbow of colors. Bell peppers come in red, yellow, orange, green, white, and purple. Each color tastes slightly different, with green ones being a bit more grassy and red ones being sweeter.

Fruit, not vegetable. Even though we cook with bell peppers like a vegetable, they are actually fruits and botanically classified as berries. This is because they grow from the flower of the plant and contain seeds inside.

Sweet pepper cousins. Bell peppers belong to the same plant family as hot chili peppers, but they lack the spicy compound that makes chilis burn your mouth. The milder varieties are called sweet peppers.

Cooked or raw. You can eat bell peppers fresh in salads and slaws, or cook them by grilling, roasting, or stir frying them. They are packed with vitamin C and other healthy nutrients.

Warm weather grower. Bell peppers grow best in warm climates and need plenty of sunshine to develop their sweet flavor and bright color.