Peppers:
All the Bells & Whistles from
Growing to Cooking
Home
grown
peppers can be one of the
most rewarding choices for your
garden...and
dinner.
Choices and
varieties
range from the sweet bell peppers to hot
chili peppers. Varieties
have
their origins in Asia, Central America and
North America, but they
are
grown around the globe for their brilliant
colors and amazing
flavors.
Peppers can be used in Italian recipes, Greek
recipes and of
course
Mexican cuisine. Finding the right choice for your
garden as well
as
your preferred taste will prove fun and
delicious.
Bell
Peppers
Bell pepper is the
common name for the group of plants in the
species
Capsicum annuum. These
plants are known for their bell-shaped
fruit,
which is where they
get their label. They come in a wide range of
colors
including red,
yellow, orange, and purple. The green bell peppers
that
are commonly
found in the produce sections of the market are
actually
unripe
peppers of the colored varieties. This results is one of
the
reasons they are not as sweet as the others. Bell peppers are sweet
peppers
and do not contain the natural chemical which causes the
“heat”
in other peppers.
Purple Beauty produces
three inch fruits that start off crisp green
before
maturing into an
eggplant purple. The plants produce a high yield,
and
are also cultivated
to be disease resistant. It is a good plant
for
growing in almost any
climate. The plants are compact and bushy.
The
fruit is thick, and perfect
for slicing into any meal where a
little
color is desired.
•
Chocolate
Beauty is another bell pepper. The plant was first
introduced
in
1993 but is always an interesting addition to the
garden. The
fruits
mature to around 4 inches and are a dark,
chocolate brown with a
few
black or purple highlights.
•
Bell
Boy is a hybrid bell pepper that produces bright
red fruits.
The
plants grow to around three feet tall and are
resistant to Tobacco
Mosaic
Virus and other diseases. The fruit is
of medium size, and matures
at
about six inches. It is a great
choice for adding color to salads,
but
is also good for
roasting.
•
Summer
Sweet is another hybrid that
is highly disease resistant. The
fruit
changes from green to gold
when it matures. It reaches around four
to
six inches and it a
great color addition to salsa or
salad.
Miniature
Yellow
Bell is a compact plant that only reaches about one to
one
and a half feet tall. The fruit is also small with most maturing
at
less than two inches. It is an heirloom bell pepper that is great
for
drying and pickling, but can also add some bright gold coloring to
salsa,
sauces or salad.
Hot
Peppers
All hot
peppers
get their heat from the
chemical known as capsaicin. The heat of
the
peppers is measured
in Scoville heat units (the number of times
the
extract must be
diluted in water to lose its heat). The higher the
Scoville
number
the hotter the chili.
Not often thought of, but hot peppers
are often used by many
Italians
in the form of hot pepper flakes.
Some people love the flavor of
spicy
food so much they even add it
to their own spaghetti. However, if
preparing
a meal for family
and friends, it is best to provide each person
their
own individual
pasta bowl so they can
individually add the appropriate amount
of
spices they prefer.
Here are a
list
of some hot pepper varieties:
•
Bhut
jolokia (Ghost pepper) is considered the hottest pepper
around,
and measures out at around 1,000,000 SHU. They have been certified
by
Guinness as the world's hottest chili pepper. This variety
can
easily
be grown as a patio plant and does well in containers.
•
Aji
Amarillo Chili is a Peruvian variety
which produces long
yellow
or orange fruit around five inches
long. The heat level is intense
but
the flavor is
fruity.
Anaheim
Pepper is a mild green to red
pepper, and is an excellent
choice
for chili rellenos. The fruits
of this variety often grow up to 10
inches.
Bulgarian
Carrot Pepper is shaped like a carrot. The fruit is crunchy
at
maturity and provides a medium to hot spiciness for dishes. The
plants
of this variety usually grow only to about 18 inches. It is an
attractive
plant which can be used for ornamental purposes, but
is also
edible.
Peruvian
White is another hybrid from
Peru. This habanero pepper is
small,
maturing to a gold coloring.
It is a hot to extremely hot pepper
variety
with a SHU of around
30,000.
Kung
Pao is a hybrid pepper plant that
grows up to four feet tall.
It
produces hot fruit that measure up
to 30,000 SHU. The size of the
fruit
is only around five inches
and it has a tapered shape. It matures
to
a red color and can make
a nice addition to fresh dishes. It is
also
a good choice for
drying because of its size and color. This
variety
is a good
choice for growing indoors.
Stuffed
Bell Peppers
Recipe (any color) . Serves 4
Preheat the
oven
to 350
degrees F. In a large frying pan heat some olive oil and
add
approximately 4 chopped cloves of garlic. Saute 2 minutes. Add 1/3
pound
ground beef or bison and cook until done.
Meanwhile
cook
1/2 cup orzo pasta in a sauce pan, drain and set aside.
When meat is finished, add the orzo to the meat along with a pinch
of
salt and pepper and 1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley.
Cut off tops
of
peppers and fill insides with the mixture. Place cut off tops back
on
top and place bell peppers in a pre-greased baking dish. Bake for
35
minutes or longer until vegetables are tender. Serve
warm.
Author
Credit:
This article and recipe was contributed by
Elizabeth Trementozzi,
publisher
of a cooking website featuring easy
Italian recipes. After visiting with relatives in Italy,
Elizabeth
has since been inspired to better appreciate the simplistic
cooking
and lifestyles of the Italians. From learning how to use a stovetop
and astainless steel espresso maker for a quick shot of espresso,
to
learning the value of gardening fresh vegetables for meals, she
now
shares her love for simple Italian cooking through writing
articles
and sharing information on her website.
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