One day, a few weeks back, I was at the grocery story getting some goodies for a little dinner party I was hosting. I was making kabobs and wanted them to be nice and colorful so I was in the produce section picking out an array of vibrant peppers. That is when I looked up and noticed the prices. The green peppers were $0.89 per pound, the red peppers were $1.99 per pound, the orange were $2.99 per pound and the yellow were $3.99 per pound! I was flabbergasted. Well, maybe I wouldn't go that far, but I certainly was surprised and equally confused. What was the reason for this price discrepancy in a variety of vegetables that seems so similar? The cogs started turning and I started to wonder... "Well, maybe the green peppers can grow in a variety of climates and maybe the other's can only be grown in specific temperatures, etc.??" I was in Grand Haven at the time and because I don't have Internet out there I wasn't able to get the answer immediately, so obviously I forgot. I simply bit the bullet, grabbed a few of the over-priced veggies and went on my way. This weekend I finally learned the truth from my former roommate, Christyn. She informed me that yellow, orange and red peppers do NOT grow in uber specific environments compared to green peppers... they are the SAME PLANT. Bell peppers are the color green when they aren't ripe yet and from there, as they ripen, they turn different colors! Bell peppers can be green, red, yellow, orange and more rarely, white, rainbow (between stages of ripening) and purple, depending on when they are harvested and the specific cultivator. So now I'm really peeved by the price increase, but I guess that's supply and demand and there's nothing I can do about it!
As I was doing a little research on the subject I also learned that compared to green peppers, red peppers have more vitamins and nutrients and contain the antioxidant lycopene. The level of carotene, another antioxidant, is nine times higher in red peppers. Red peppers also have twice the vitamin C content of green peppers!
If you are a lover of the SHAPE of peppers you should check out some of Edward Weston's photographs. They are beautiful. (http://www.edward-weston.com/)!
- Lizzie