slo’s THURSDAY poll - No poll today (explanation on post #1)

[AndreaDM]

All of them, in fact, I think I have all 4 colors in my fridge right now. I sometimes buy purple peppers from a farmer's market in the summer too.

 

[mamamary]

Red and green 99% of the time. I have one recipe that uses yellow and other than that I only use orange and yellow if I have a pepper emergency. The other day I needed a red pepper for a recipe and the store was out so I bought an orange one.

 

[Sinder]

I cook with all except green, I find them overpowering.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

I use peppers often. Mainly red and green. Once in a while, yellow.

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

I like them all and buy them frequently.

 

[disneychrista]

Green and red. I’ve used yellow and maybe orange before. When cooking for one you have to pair down what you use or plan on several meals that use the same ingredients.

 

[luvnwdwgal]

Love bell peppers! We grow them all in our garden. I chop them up and freeze them and I cook with them all the time along with onions.

 

[evilmommie]

They are are delicious! I find the yellow and orange a bit sweeter. I love the mini versions too for dips and appetizers. We have them in our garden too!

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

I use them all

Green most of the time, followed by Red

Yellow and Orange I'll use more for summer salads

 

[amcnj]

I like them all but tend to buy red and green. And prefer red for raw consumption and roasting. Hmm, possibly for frying too!

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I use all the colors when I make pepper steak, and I buy the red ones for eating raw because they're sweet.

 

[DLgal]

You know they are all the same pepper, right? Just different levels of ripeness.

Green taste best to me, but red ones are the healthiest. I use them all in my cooking.

 

[soccerdad72]

You know they are all the same pepper, right? Just different levels of ripeness.

Yeah, I think most people generally realize that.

 

[DLgal]

Yeah, I think most people generally realize that.

The poll option "I didn't know peppers came in any other color than green" would seem to indicate otherwise.

 

[tvguy]

None. My wife doesn't like them so we don't buy them.

 

[soccerdad72]

The poll option "I didn't know peppers came in any other color than green" would seem to indicate otherwise.

For what it's worth - nobody voted for that option.

 

[DLgal]

For what it's worth - nobody voted for that option.

Yet

 

[amcnj]

You know they are all the same pepper, right? Just different levels of ripeness.

Green taste best to me, but red ones are the healthiest. I use them all in my cooking.

This is true for bell peppers up to a point. There are many varieties of peppers, and obviously some have different characteristics including taste. And as they fully mature some varieties may turn red, some yellow and some orange. Though I believe some varieties never change color too. And like many other fruits and vegetables, allowing them to ripen fully can change the sweetness. I would also assume that varieties that do turn a nice red color are often the varieties allowed to go to that stage for maximum eye appeal in the store, and they may not be the same variety as the green, as that one may have been selected for another characteristic, like quicker fruit formation. So the green pepper may be quite different from the red pepper in the bin next to it at the store.

 

[DLgal]

This is true for bell peppers up to a point. There are many varieties of peppers, and obviously some have different characteristics including taste. And as they fully mature some varieties may turn red, some yellow and some orange. Though I believe some varieties never change color too. And like many other fruits and vegetables, allowing them to ripen fully can change the sweetness. I would also assume that varieties that do turn a nice red color are often the varieties allowed to go to that stage for maximum eye appeal in the store, and they may not be the same variety as the green, as that one may have been selected for another characteristic, like quicker fruit formation. So the green pepper may be quite different from the red pepper in the bin next to it at the store.

Kind of. There is a green pepper variety that never turns colors, but the other variety is the same pepper allowed to stay on the vine for different amounts of time. At the end stages, each color pepper is distinctly different from the others because as starches turn to sugars in produce, that changes the inherent chemical properties of the fruit. Every red, yellow and orange pepper started as the same green pepper.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Which color peppers do you use when you cook?

Depends on what I'm cooking. There's not a whole lot of difference in the various colors of bell peppers, just how sweet it is.

I usually use a color that stands out in the dish, making it visually more interesting.