BELL PEPPERS - PEPPERS OF THE WEEK

Bell peppers are also known as sweet peppers or capsicum. They come in various colors like red, yellow, green, orange, white, purple and even mixed colored peppers which exist during parts of the ripening process. Green peppers are less sweet and slightly more bitter than yellow, orange or red peppers. Bell peppers are made up of water which is 94% and carbs like fructose, sugars and glucose. They also contain nutrients like vitamins, minerals like calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc and sodium. You can cook bell peppers in so many ways. You can skewer with meats or veggies to make kabobs, you can shred into thin strips and add to your coleslaw.

Roasting bell peppers gives them a smoky delicious flavour to add to your baking, stew or soup. Eat them raw! That is always an option. So many endless options available.

Taste of ripe peppers can vary with growing conditions and storage treatment after harvest. Those allowed to fully ripen in full sunshine tend to be the sweetest

The bell peppers that are usually harvested and ripened after in storage are less sweet.

Green bell pepper

Green bell peppers are super crunchy, and used for stuffing when cooking

Red bell pepper

Red bell peppers are sweet and are perfect for salads and can also be roasted

Yellow bell pepper

Yellow bell peppers are sweet with mild taste. They roast beautifully since they keep their color when cooked

When buying bell peppers choose the ones with a vivid color. They should have taut skin, free of spots blemishes or darkened areas. The stems should be green and fresh looking. The bell peppers should also be heavy and firm if they are fresh

There are so many ways that you can use bell peppers in your food. You can finely chop and add in both vegetable and fruit salad. You can puree with onions and zuchinni to make soup. Bell peppers give a crunchy texture used in dips or served on crudites platter. For an awesome meal, you can roll bell peppers around bite sized food like sausage, cheese then skewer in toothpicks as an appetizer.