Orange Bell Pepper

Orange Bell Pepper History

(Capsicum annuum) The Orange Bell Pepper is a real beauty. Alex Heklar gave this variety to the Seed Savers Exchange in 1989. Something like the bell pepper and hot peppers have been cultivated for thousands of years, with the earliest cultivation taking place in South and Central American civilizations. The earliest fossil traces so far are from southwestern Ecuador, where families grew their own peppers.

Planting Bell Peppers

Start seeds indoors 8-10 weeks before your last spring frost date. Bell peppers require a fairly long growing season (60 to 90 days), so it’s best to get them started indoors. Begin using green peppers at 50 days and they will turn to orange around 80 days after transplant. Here’s an article on growing peppers at home.

Preserving and Storing Your Bell Peppers For Later Use

Large blocky bells with 3-4 lobes, 3-4″ across the shoulders and 4-5″ long. Ripens from green to orange. Excellent for fresh eating, canning or freezing.

To keep your Bell Peppers tasting great longer, store them in your refrigerator crisper drawer. In the fridge, raw Bell Peppers will last between 1 and 2 weeks. Cooked Bell Peppers will typically last 3-5 days.

Just like Cucumbers, make sure your Bell Peppers are dry before you pop them into the crisper drawer. A wet Bell Pepper will quickly become soft, slimy, and moldy—not something you want to snack on! Click here for more info on how to best store your bell peppers.

Cooking With Bell Peppers

Great sweet flavor. This recipe demonstrates how to make stuffed orange peppers.

Orange Bell Pepper Nutrition

One orange pepper contains 190 percent of the daily recommended intake for vitamin C, which is 75 milligrams for women and 90 milligrams for men. Orange bell peppers also contain 2 grams of fiber each, making them a good way to reach the daily guidelines, which are 25 grams for women and 38 grams for men. Brightly colored fruits and vegetables contain a high amount of antioxidants. Orange peppers are no exception, with carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin.

For more information, check out these nutrition facts for Orange Bell Peppers.

Calories In An Orange Bell Pepper

This variety contains around 32 calories per pepper.

Other Peppers Worth Checking Out

King Of The North Bell Pepper