Everything about Bell Pepper totally explained
Bell pepper is a
cultivar group of the species
Capsicum annuum. Cultivars of the
plant produce peppercorns which develop into fruits in different colors, including red, yellow, green and orange. Bell peppers are sometimes grouped with less pungent pepper varieties as "sweet peppers".
Nomenclature
The term "bell pepper" is one of the many names for some fruits of the
Capsicum annuum species of plants. The misleading name "pepper" (
pimiento in Spanish) was given by
Christopher Columbus upon bringing the plant back to Europe. At that time
peppercorns were a highly prized condiment.
Today, the term "bell pepper" or "pepper" or "capsicum" is often used for any of the large bell shaped capsicum fruits, regardless of their color. In
British English, the fruit is simply referred to as a "pepper", whereas in many
Commonwealth of Nations countries, such as
Australia,
India,
Malaysia and
New Zealand, they're called "capsicum". Across Europe, the term "paprika", which has its roots in the word for pepper, is used—sometimes referred to by their color (for example "groene paprika", "gele paprika", in Dutch, which are green and yellow, respectively).
Paprika also refers to the powdered spice made from the same fruit. In France it's called "poivron" or "piment." In Japan, the word ピーマン ("pîman," from the French) refers only to green bell peppers, whereas パプリカ ("papurika," from paprika) refers to bell peppers of other colors. In the
United States and
Canada, the fruit is often referred to simply as a "pepper" or referred to by color (for example "red pepper", "green pepper"), although the more specific term "bell pepper" is understood in most regions. It is also to be noted that Bell Peppers are indeed fruits, even though most treat them as vegetables.
In parts of the U.S. around southern
Ohio, Northeastern Pennsylvania and northern
Kentucky the term "mangoes" (or "mangos") has sometimes been used to refer to bell peppers. However, as the actual
mango fruit has become more common in the region, this usage has faded.
In
Russia it's commonly called
болгарский перец (
bolgarskiy perets), meaning
Bulgarian pepper. In
France, it's called
poivron, with the same root as
poivre (meaning
black pepper). In
Denmark the bell pepper is referred to as "peberfrugt", meaning pepper-fruit.
In
Brazil it's commonly called
Pimentão, meaning
Big pepper. It's widely used in a variety of dishes, like pasta, rice and other dishes from
Cuisine of Brazil.
Varieties
The color can be green, red, yellow, orange and, more rarely, white, purple, blue, and brown, depending on when they're
harvested and the specific
cultivar. Green peppers are unripe bell peppers, while the others are all ripe, with the color variation based on cultivar selection. Because they're unripe, green peppers are less sweet and slightly more bitter than yellow, orange, purple or red peppers. The taste of ripe peppers can also vary with growing conditions and post-harvest storage treatment; the sweetest are fruit allowed to ripen fully on the plant in full sunshine, while fruit harvested green and after-ripened in storage are less sweet. Peppers are native to
Central and
South America. Pepper seeds were later carried to
Spain in
1493 and from there spread to other
European and
Asian countries.
In popular culture
Gallery
Image:Grocery Store Bell Peppers.JPG|Green Bell Peppers on display at a Grocery Store
Image:Capsicum1.jpg|A variety of colored bell peppers
Image: Red capsicum and cross section.jpg | A whole and halved red bell pepper
Image:Purple bellpepper.jpg|A whole purple pepper
Further Information
Get more info on 'Bell Pepper'.
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