Subject: Confused about Peppers

From: [email-masked] (SusieNKen)
Date: 29 Mar 1995 00:46:10 -0500

We've gotten conflicting advise...

I love sweet red bell peppers, but I'm not too fond of the green ones.
The nursary say plant the green ones and they will turn sweet red
if we leave them on the plant.  A friend says we were taken, he says
there are specific RED bell pepper plants.  Who is right?

Thanks ... Ken and Susie Lamarche.
e-mail replies to [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (WEIR ANDREW L)
Date: 29 Mar 95 20:16:53 GMT

>e-mail replies to [email-masked]

The nursery. Essentially, all green peppers are immature. They will
turn red (there are a few varieties that turn yellow, even purple,
but this is the general idea) eventually. You can eat them green,
but they taste, IMHO, a lot better harvested when ripe. Time to
maturity depends upon the variety - your nursey should be able to
help you with that.

Andy

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 30 Mar 1995 04:20:05 GMT

> there are specific RED bell pepper plants.  Who is right?

Nope, you weren't taken at all, just about ALL peppers (both mild and hot)
turn red at maturity. You'll just have to wait about an additional 3-4
weeks for this to occur. 

Although I like green peppers, I do think the red ones (at least the
bells) taste better when they are red.

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From: [email-masked] (Michael E. Matthews)
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 16:27:49 GMT

> maturity depends upon the variety - your nursey should be able to

I agree with Andy, but it is also true that some varieties will
turn color faster and be brighter red and be more suitable for
eating when red. It does take a longer time in any case.

Michael in Central VA

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 95 13:33:46 EST

>Thanks ... Ken and Susie Lamarche.
 
Peppers come in all colors and of course they vary in the "heat"
they bring.  Would you believe one papper plant could produce a
raindow of colors?  Check out one beauty shown in the Seeds of
Change catalog.  Many of the seed catalogs offer pepper plants
in a number of colors and you can find articles, and pictures
in Organic Gardening magazine.  Their 1994 exhibit at the Phila.
Flower show was all about peppers.
 
If I were to offer you a chocolate pepper would you bite?
 
Dave Vanderhoof

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From: [email-masked] (WEIR ANDREW L)
Date: 29 Mar 95 20:16:53 GMT

Andy

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From: [email-masked]
Date: 30 Mar 1995 04:20:05 GMT

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From: [email-masked] (Michael E. Matthews)
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 16:27:49 GMT

Michael in Central VA

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 95 13:33:46 EST

Dave Vanderhoof

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From: [email-masked] (Sara Larson)
Date: 30 Mar 1995 21:53:08 GMT

SusieNKen ([email-masked]) wrote:
: if we leave them on the plant.  A friend says we were taken, he says
: there are specific RED bell pepper plants.  Who is right?

All I can do is tell you what happened with my own bell pepper plants
last year. They developed green fruits, which took a while to change
colors to red.

Does that answer it for you?

-Sara

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From: [email-masked] (Information Services)
Date: Fri, 31 Mar 1995 00:25:09 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
>there are specific RED bell pepper plants.  Who is right?

I know this said to E-mail replies to the requesting party, but it seems 
to come up frequently enough that I thought it might be useful to respond 
to the group.

Technically, both are right; although your nurseryman was more-so.  
Although there *are* varieties of bell pepper specfically bred to mature 
red, all peppers (hot or sweet) start out green.  There is *no* pepper 
species which remains green indefinately, however.  Green bell peppers are 
merely peppers which are picked before they ripen (when they still have a 
more "vegetable" taste).

When someone tells you that a pepper variety is for red peppers, this 
simply means that the pods will mature to that color.  Peppers may mature 
to any of several colors, depending on the variety; in addition to red, 
there are black, purple, white, yellow, brown and orange peppers...but 
all start out green.

RES
-- 
KPMG Peat Marwick                     |                  Los Angeles
Information Services                  |                  California, U.S.A.

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From: [email-masked] (bill griffith)
Date: 9 Apr 1995 03:07:26 GMT

There are many colors of bell's these days. Brown (chocolate) purple, 
yellow and of course red, and there are probably others. Chiles are the 
same way. But they all start out green. They Ripen to their mature color 
and are sweeter when mature.

bil

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] 
says...