The peppers have been loving these sunny days and now nearly all varieties are ripe. To help you navigate pepper world, here is a guide to this year’s pepper varieties. Enjoy their beauty and taste…while they last!
Sweet Bell Peppers:
Red, Yellow & Orange varieties
Flavorburst Yellow – A sweet lime green to yellow pepper, medium-sized, 3-lobed and slightly elongated.
King of the North Red – Thick, crisp, red peppers great in salads, salsas, roasted and for snacking. Smitten Kitchen has a great roasted red pepper sauce that would be great on so many of our meats!
Yankee Bell – A classic, blocky green or red pepper.
Gourmet Orange Bell – A medium-large orange/yellow pepper with thick, juicy flesh and a sweet flavor.
Sweet Pimento Lipstick – A cone-shaped, juicy and sweet pepper for salads and cooking, and perfect for roasting and salsa. Fruits range from orange to a glossy, rich red. Little but crunchy and super sweet.
Always lots of questions about the purple peppers. They start purple and are sweeter than the green peppers but not as sweet as when those green peppers turn to yellow, red or orange.
Purple Beauty – A shorter, rounder pepper with deep purple skin and juicy green flesh.
Purple Islander – A medium-sized, thin-fleshed pepper with a mild, slightly sweet taste. Fruits pass through a showy stage of violet, yellow and orange streaks, eventually turning a rich, very dark red.
Hot Peppers:
From mildest to hottest
Poblano – A short and dark green mild chili pepper that is fabulous stuffed and on the grill. When dried it is referred to as an ancho pepper and is ground and used as a spice.
Anaheim-Great for roasting as well as fresh eating. They add some of the hot pepper flavor to salsas and sauces without so much of the heat. They start green but will turn red as they mature on the plant. Popular in the Southwest as Roasted Green Chilis which are amazing!
Hungarian Hot Wax – A medium hot pepper great for grilling, frying, and stuffing. Color varies from yellow-green through orange to bright red. It is a pepper that gets milder as it matures on the plant so the yellow-green are hotter than the red. Lovely addition to salsas and other dishes as it is not as spicy as the jalapeno.
Jalapeno – A dark green or red hot pepper with a distinctive shape and flavor, great grilled or broiled or pickled!
Cayenne – A very hot pepper, glossy and fire-engine red, these are great for cooking with fresh or dried.