You might be thinking this blog is about traffic lights, but it isn’t :)
It is about BELL PEPPERS! Yes, bell peppers… the ones that you find in the salad aisle. When shopping for peppers, do you tend to pick up the multi pack ones sold by most supermarkets? I do!
These contain one of each colour and you feel as though you have covered all grounds when it comes to making colourful pasta, stir fries or curries. Instead of picking up the multi pack, you can shop smartly and ensure that you are creating nutritious meals.
Next time you go shopping for peppers, keep this in mind:
- For starters, all the colours come from the same plant; a red bell pepper is the mature version of a green bell, and orange and yellow versions fall in between.
- Each colour provides a different level of nutrition
- RED bell peppers have the benefit of containing lycopene, a very powerful carotenoid also found in tomatoes. It’s been linked to helping prevent cancer, heart disease, and diabetes among other amazing qualities. So if you’re looking to maximise your health benefit, lean towards the more mature peppers.
- YELLOW bell peppers contain the highest amount of vitamin C and are among the best sources of the important vitamin, although all bell peppers contain a significant amount of it.
- GREEN, unripe peppers have the least amount of vitamins and are slightly bitter than the fully ripe ones. As these are picked first and available in quantity, you will find them cheaper than the other two.
Bell peppers belong to the nightshade (Solanaceae) family of plants, along with chilli pepper, cayenne pepper, eggplant, tomatoes and common potatoes (but not sweet potatoes or yams). Their genus/species name is Capsicum annuum.
Cultivars (Cultivated varieties)of the plant produce fruits in different colours, including red, yellow, orange, green, white, and purple. ( I am yet to see the white and purple varieties!)
They are at the bottom of the Scoville scale and are the only member of the capsicum family that contain a recessive gene which stops them from producing capsaicin.
