Cooking with Sweet & Bell Peppers

Did you know that peppers are perennials, but are grown as annuals here in colder climates? As tropical plants, peppers do best in the garden during the hottest season when the temperature is no cooler than 60 degrees at night. For a sweeter taste, allow peppers to ripen on the plant, often turning orange, yellow, or red from green. 

Fun fact: Sweet & Bell peppers share the same genetic family as their more fiery counterparts, chilis, but don’t contain the capsaicin that makes hot sauce and pepper flakes so very spicy. 

Storage

Bell peppers should be stored in the refrigerator, unwashed, and placed in a sealable bag. They can last for about 1-2 weeks.

Seasonality

Find Wisconsin peppers as early as July and as late as October.

Prep Tip

Try cutting the walls of the pepper off of the stem end to keep the seeds intact and easy to clean up.

This content was originally created by our partners at Taste the Local Difference and has been adapted to highlight the distinct characteristics of Wisconsin’s local food system.

Image by LoggaWiggler from Pixabay