Know your Peppers

Pepper is a tender, warm-season vegetable.

Pepper plants require somewhat higher temperatures, grow more slowly and are smaller than most tomato plants.

Brightly coloured, sweet bell pepper varieties have recently burst onto the scene.

A vast range of other garden peppers (pimiento, tabasco, cayenne, chili and paprika) may be grown for food, spices or as ornamentals.

The sweet varieties of peppers, especially the bells, traditionally have been by far the most popular in Europe and the United States.

They are eaten green or ripe and are used for salads, stuffing, soup, stews, relishes and pickling.

New developments in colour and form have done nothing to dull the popularity of sweet peppers.

Hot pepper varieties have also enjoyed a rebirth of popularity recently, mainly due to various ethnic cuisines that use their unique flavours and heat creatively.

Though there are dozens of different kinds of peppers, facts follow on some of the more widely used types.