I picked plenty o' peppers

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

How many peppers did I pick this summer? Plenty! So many that I didn't even bother to count them. These are just a few of the beauties I pulled during my last visit to the community garden. The dark ones are Purple Beauty bells, which look almost chocolate-colored to me. (Then again, I see many foods through chocolate-colored glasses.) The red one is a Buran heirloom pepper.

This was my first year growing bell peppers and the results exceeded my expectations. Compared to the peppers I usually see in the grocery stores, my peppers were only about half the size, a little thinner, and slightly less sweet, but they were beautifully shaped and infinitely fresher than the ones I usually see on Aisle One. Furthermore, I didn't have to scrub them like crazy to remove chemicals; these were grown organically (as are all my veggie crops). I think the best part about them, though, was how wonderful they smelled while they were baking in the oven. A deep and warm peppery fragrance permeated the far reaches of the house as they cooked.


I made stuffed purple peppers filled with a mixture of cooked rice, sausage, garlic, onions, and chopped red peppers, all bathed in our homemade tomato sauce. Notice how the purple pepper pulled a fast one on me and turned green during the cooking process. I read in the current issue of Organic Gardening that one can prevent this chameleon-like change from occurring in purple cauliflower by adding a little lemon juice or vinegar while it cooks. I wonder if the same is true with purple peppers?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pepper growing season in review:
I'll take the peppers, hold the chemicals, please
The Heat is On... the pepper seeds
Pluck, there goes the pepper blossom
First bell pepper
Pepper salsa
Sweet pepper crostini

12 Comments:

Blogger Priscilla George said...

Isn't it great when you have a big enough harvest to make an actual meal. Those look like nice beautiful peppers. That stuffed pepper is making me hungry. How strange that it changed colors.

12:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

We actually grew purple peppers this summer also with prolific results. One of the most surprising things that happened though was when we left them on the plant after they had turned purple... they eventually turned green again as they got bigger... and THEN THEY TURNED RED!! All the ones we picked as purple peppers still had green flesh, but the red ones had red flesh. So I guess the purple ones are just unripe green peppers in disguise.

10:57 PM  
Blogger Carol Michel said...

Your post reminds me that I still have some peppers out in the garden begging to be picked. I feel so quilty leaving them out their unpicked!

11:14 PM  
Blogger Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

How lucky you are to have so many fresh peppers - I love the red 1s raw! My 1 attempt at growing peppers resulted in a harvest of 1 small fruit. sigh...

12:49 PM  
Blogger Muum said...

I know purple 'green' beans turn green again when you cook them. I grew the 'chocolate' peppers this year, too, but didn't care for the taste of them fresh. Maybe cooked would have been perfect for mine, too!

1:36 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I absolutely loathe peppers, Christa, but looking at your pictures even I feel a small pang of hunger. They look beautiful.

1:54 PM  
Blogger Catherine said...

YUMM, Your stuffed peppers sound delicious!!
Cat

5:47 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Looks fantastic...mine failed this year so i can't wait to be growing them next year!

6:27 PM  
Blogger kate said...

Those purple peppers look wonderful - as you say, they look chocolate coloured. You'll have to try adding some lemon juice to see if you can retain the colour when cooking them.

It looks as if your pepper crop this year was a really good one!

3:48 PM  
Blogger Gardenmomma Chris said...

I love how you did that stuffed pepper, giving him a little cap like that! Too cute!

1:48 AM  
Blogger Whyite said...

Thats a plentiful picking of peppers. That is so weird how it changed colors.

10:42 PM  
Blogger Christina said...

I'm looking for the perfect peppers to grow next summer--those purple peppers look like a great choice!

11:28 PM  

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