Ways to Eat Bell Peppers

• Wash bell peppers and cut them into strips.These can be kept in the fridge and eaten raw. Dip them in hummus or guacamole for a healthy snack.
• Add diced bell peppers to soups and salads.
• Sauté and season bell pepper strips for a great side dish.
• Sauté bell peppers with onion strips and sliced portabella mushrooms. Season with fajita seasoning and serve in a tortilla.

Selecting and Storing Bell Peppers

• Look for bell peppers that are shiny, with no blemishes or wrinkles in their skin.
• Choose bell peppers that are firm.             
• Store bell peppers in an airtight plastic bag or container in your vegetable crisper.   
• Bell peppers will stay fresh longer if stored whole. If you cut them, use them within a few days for best results.
• Do not expose bell peppers to moisture or they will rot.

Bell Peppers and Nutrition

• One red pepper provides you with over 200% of your daily vitamin C. It is a better vitamin C source than oranges.
• Red peppers contain the antioxidant lycopene which can help prevent some forms of cancer.
• Bell peppers contain vitamin A to help with night vision.

Did you know??

• Red, orange and yellow bell peppers are the riper versions of the green bell pepper.
• Some nutrients provided in bell peppers are damaged by heat, so it is best to eat them raw.
• Since bell peppers have seeds and come from flowering plants, they are actually fruits, not vegetables.
• Unlike other members of the Capsicum family, bell peppers do not contain capsaicin, the compound that provides the heat found in other varieties of peppers like the jalapeno.
• Despite the similarity in name, the bell pepper is not related to the plant that is used to make ground black pepper.

 

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