Digest this!
Bell pepper is hard to digest. Some joke and say you only have to eat one to have for the rest of the day.
There are three causes for this inconvenience. First of all, green pepper are not ripe. Avoid eating them. The skin of bell peppers is almost impossible to digest. A last cause for troubled stomachs are the inner white parts.
Red Gold and Green
Colours vary, so do the plans. Different cultivars have different outcomes. Though often green is the colour of unripe peppers.
Other colours are white, lavender and purple. Taste-wise there are smaller differences. The green bell pepper is almost bitter. Whereas the matured peppers are sweet.
Bell Pepper Paradise
China grows almost half of the world’s bell pepper. China is also the greatest consumer. Making it the most popular post-Colombian vegetable in the far east.
Hungary has a wide variety of bell pepper. And quite an amount is transformed in paprika. From pleasantly mild to atomic hot.
Italians call their sweet pepper peperone, the augmentation of pepper. Not to be confused with the American ‘pepperoni’. Which refers to a spicy cured sausage.
Peeling peppers
The reason a bell pepper often comes unpeeled is clear. Getting the skin off seems an endeavour.
There are two rather easy ways to do so. Use a potato peeler and work your way around the curves. The pepper remains crunchy and ideal for salads. Or pop it in the oven at 220 degrees for five minutes. Transfer to a bowl and cover with cling film. About ten minutes later the skin comes off easily.
Pasta with bell pepper
There are as many variants to this dish as there are cooks. The bell pepper is never added raw. Bake, fry or steam them. We like to add some tomato, a little basil and garlic. Here is a recipe.
Blend the ingredients in a cream. You can use the cream on bread or toast. Or as a dip. Topped off with oil it conserves for over week.
Sweet Sour Bell pepper
Is peperonata a salad or a side dish? Or is it a starter? All we know is that little it matters.
This dish is popular in all Italy. The Sicilian version stands out for the use of vinegar and sugar.
This preparation triumphs in a sandwich. With a little semi-seasoned cheese. Paradise between slices.
Stuff that pepper
What do you stuff bell pepper with? As Cole Porter wrote: anything goes.
Keep in mind that peppers have a distinct taste by themselves. So there is no need to be subtle.
In Sicily stuffing is one. Bread, eggs and cheese. With the ubiquitous raisins and pine nuts. Recipe
Stuffed and baked peppers get better over night. And are excellent eaten cold as well.
