Get This Color Of Bell Pepper At The Store For The Sweetest Bite

For every task in the kitchen, there is a correct tool for getting the job done. Thinking that a bell pepper of any hue would still taste as sweet (or whatever Shakespeare said) is a toolbox error. Not all bell peppers are created equal ... or are they? The key distinction is that different colors of bell pepper aren't varying types of pepper; they're the same pepper picked at different ages, resulting in unique degrees of sweetness.

Bell peppers themselves belong to the "sweet pepper" capsicum category, alongside banana peppers and pepperoncini, ranking zero on the Scoville scale. Every bell pepper starts out as green. From there, the fruit (yes, bell peppers are technically fruits) matures to yellow, orange, and finally red. Green bell peppers taste the most bitter, with yellow peppers clocking in more neutral, and orange peppers subtly sweet. Red bell peppers, being the most mature variety, have the sweetest and most flavorful taste. To boot, they also have the densest concentration of nutrients.

This isn't to say that you should skip whipping up the bell pepper recipes you can't get enough of, even if you don't have red peppers on hand. For the most part, orange and red bulbs can be swapped for one another. However, opting for sweet red bell peppers makes a notable difference in the flavor of a dish, especially if they will be served raw. 

Thanks to their vibrant and saccharine profile, red bell peppers act as a versatile ingredient in a home cook's arsenal. They're less grassy than other colors and they become more complex when roasted. Sweet red bell pepper can even add balance to counter the savoriness of chicken sausage and pepper pasta or sizzling steak fajitas. Serve the peppers diced and raw in salads, or coax out their lusciousness in fire-roasted shakshuka. Pro tip: A roughly 8-ounce (medium-sized) bell pepper will yield about one cup when chopped.

When purchasing fresh red bell peppers, look for fruits with firm and glossy skin that feel heavy. For maximum sweetness, flip the pepper upside down and count the bumps on its bottom. The more bumps (AKA lobes) it has, the sweeter it will be. This botany-based hack relates to the peppers' growing conditions pre-harvest. Essentially, a bell pepper plant produces either male or female flowers as it grows. Female flowers are often larger in size, attracting more pollinators and prompting more lobes to develop. So, foodies can assume that a red bell pepper with an impressive four or five bumps will have the sweetest flesh. 

For inspiration on how to put the sugary-sweet produce to use, we've rounded up 14 unique ways to flavor red bell peppers.