What is a Sweet Pepper?

A Sweet pepper is a pepper with no heat, that is sweet or fruity in flavour. Sweet Peppers are from the capsicum family of which chilli peppers also belong to. A Bell Pepper is zero on the scoville heat scale and a Sweet Pepper is 1-500 on the scoville heat scale. Most people wouldn’t notice any heat in a Sweet Pepper.

🌶️ Did you know?

Sweet Peppers are actually classed as a fruit and not a vegetable. They are used as vegetables though.

Sweet peppers are a great vegetable to grow if you have a greenhouse, polytunnel, or conservatory.

Sweet Peppers are from tropical climates so they will grow best in a greenhouse where the heat is constantly warm. Sweet peppers need warm temperatures at night (at least 15 degrees centigrade) and they actually don’t like too hot conditions either.

🫑 Did you know?

Sweet Peppers can loose their leaves and flowers in extremely hot temperatures. If they loose their flowers, there won’t be any sweet peppers growing. It’s important to monitor the plants in hot temperatures.

Sweet Pepper – Origins

Sweet Peppers are from South America, south of North America and Mexico. Then the Spanish explorers brought the seeds to Spain and Europe in the 15th century.

Types of Sweet Pepper

There are a few different types of pepper based on their shape.

1. Bell Peppers

These are the stocky type of sweet pepper, that is widely available in supermarkets in green, yellow, orange and red colours. A few more colours can be added when growing your own bell peppers, like purple and brown, there is a variety called Chocolate Beauty.

As Bell Peppers are the biggest variety, they take the longest to grow. Seeds would need to be started in January under heat for them to have enough time to grow, to be harvested in August in the UK.

Bell Pepper Varieties include: California Wonder, King of the North, Beauty Bell F1, New Ace F1.

2. Flatter Pointy Sweet Peppers

These type of Sweet peppers are flat with a pointy tip. They are usually red in colour and have been bred in European climates.

Flat pointy Pepper varieties include: Redskin F1,

3. Long slim Sweet Peppers

The long slim Sweet Peppers sometimes resemble their family cousins the chilli pepper. They are sweeter in taste and have thinner skin. These types of pepper are sometimes called Bulls Horn Pepper. In Italy they called these frying peppers.

Long slim Varieties include: Semorah, Long red Marconi, Thor F1.

4. Miniature Peppers

Miniature sweet pepper are compact bushy plants which are ideal to be grown in pots or containers in the greenhouse. They are either round or look like tiny chilli peppers. They can be many colours – red, orange, yellow, purple and even black. These type of sweet pepper can mean you will get a large crop of tiny sweet peppers. Ideal for growing with children as they can pick the peppers themselves.

Miniature Varieties include:

• Cherry bomb – a small round variety,
• Tangerine Dream – a small orange pointy variety.
• Snack bite F1 – multi coloured pointy small variety.

Sweet Pepper – Nutrition

Sweet Peppers in their red form are the most nutritious.

They are high in:

• Vitamin A,
• Vitamin B6 and
• Vitamin C.
• Sweet Peppers are made up of the majority of water and are low in fat.

Sweet peppers don’t produce the capsaicin, which is the burning sensation chemical of a spicy hot chilli pepper.

Can everyone eat Sweet Peppers?

No, some people have an intolerance to fruit and vegetables from the Nightshade family.

These Nightshade family vegetables contain alkaloids which some people have an intolerance to. It is an immune system response by the body that creates a skin rash, itchy skin and digestion issues.

Other fruits and vegetables from the Nightshade family include aubergines (or eggplants), tomatoes and potatoes.

What is Paprika?

Paprika is a spicy or smoked sweet spice that is actually made from grounded dried sweet peppers and then to make it spicy other chilli peppers are added.

Other Vegetables to Sow In February

Broad Beans

Peas

Top 5 Vegetables to Sow in February