Fresh peppers really do represent the rainbow with flavors ranging from mild sweetness to oh-so-hot in brilliant hues of red, yellow, green, orange, and chocolate brown. In fact, thousands of pepper varieties exist—and, at The Chef’s Garden, we only grow the best of the best with our regenerative farming techniques bringing out the full potential of flavor and nutrition in our fresh peppers.

These include:

• Aji peppers: Varieties range in flavor from hot to fruity: aji lemon drops, aji mango, and aji crystal.
• Bell peppers: Sweet and flavorful, we harvest tiny baby ones and full-sized ones that are perfect for stuffing.
• Shishito peppers: Traditional Japanese peppers add a delicious touch of spice; harvested in an emerald-green hue, they turn red.
• Mixed pepper: Enjoy the best of the day’s harvest in hot and sweet varieties!

Versatility of Peppers
“Peppers are cosmopolitan, a vegetable that comes in far more varieties than there are nations in the world.” (The New York Times)

A short list of cuisines that creatively use peppers in their dishes includes Mexican, Italian, Spanish, American, Thai, Japanese, Indian, Polish, Hungarian, German, Cuban, Cajun, and Portuguese. We don’t mean to leave anyone out. This really is just a starter list and even saying that peppers are a global phenomenon doesn’t do this crop justice anymore.

Why? Because on June 5, 2021, chile pepper seeds were planted on the International Space Station. Someday, astronauts may eat these crops on a mission to Mars. People in charge of choosing which seeds to plant there chose spicy peppers because astronauts are prone to getting stuffy heads while experiencing microgravity. Plus, they want to provide astronauts with the maximum of nutrition and flavor on their flights.

Here on Planet Earth, bell peppers are ideal for use in salads to stir fries, delicious when grilled, roasted, and stuffed/baked, and they can be a key ingredient in a dish or a flavorful complement. Meanwhile, hot peppers spice up dishes in mouthwateringly unforgettable ways. Here’s the reality: the sky is the limit when it comes to innovation with peppers on your menus.

For example, at the Culinary Vegetable Institute, Chef Jamie Simpson and his team fermented peppers in a whisky barrel for an entire year and the result is an amazing sauce that they’ve added to a wide variety of dishes. “There is no other vegetable like a pepper,” Jamie says. “Its spiciness and heat add a dimension to flavor profiles that’s unmatched and absolutely priceless.”

Fresh Pepper Recipes
Here are some to experiment with and enjoy:

• Tomato Bell Pepper Rice
• Orange Bell Pepper Pineapple Gimlet
• Easy Ratatouille Recipe
• Farmer Lee’s Fresh Eggplant, Lettuce, and Tomato Sandwich
• Roasted Jalapeno Cocktail
• Jalapeno Beet Salad
• Fresh Heirloom Tomato Zucchini Salsa

Plus, here’s the story of our Sweet Pepper Marmalade collaboration with Emily Hutton, founder of the Prospect Jam Company. We invite you to try this versatile marmalade in uniquely creative ways on your menus.
As you serve dishes that use peppers as an ingredient, you may want to also share stories about them. To help, here are some questions that Google searches show that people ask—along with some intriguing info that you can use as answers.

Are Peppers Good for You?
Yes! According to BBCGoodFood.com, bell peppers may lower the risk of macular degeneration and cataracts; reduce the risk of developing anemia; help to protect people against cancer and heart disease; lower blood pressure; and delay memory loss that’s associated with age.

MedicalNewsToday.com, meanwhile, points out how bell peppers are an incredible source of vitamin C and A, antioxidants, folate, fiber, and vitamin B6 and E.

This is a look at just one type of the rainbow of fresh peppers grown on our farm—bell peppers—and its nutritional benefits. Other types are also bursting with nutrition.

Did you know that independent testing has shown how, at The Chef’s Garden, we are growing flavorful, farm-fresh vegetables with 300 to 600 percent more in nutrients than the USDA baseline? We are! Please feel free to share that with your diners, many of whom are wanting to make healthy foods a larger part of their daily diets.

Are Peppers Vegetables?
Well, the answer to that question can vary, depending on whether a diner is asking you a scientific question, a culinary one, a food pyramid clarification, or a legal question. Scientifically speaking, fruits come from a plant’s flower while veggies come from other parts of a plant (such as roots and leaves). That makes peppers a type of fruit. From a culinary perspective, though, chefs use them as vegetables and, in everyday lingo, they’re referred to as vegetables.

The USDA food pyramid lists peppers as vegetables because the federal government looks beyond botany to also consider a food’s taste and use in meals in its classifications. So, any foods that are technically fruits but are “not sweet or tart and are usually consumed along with other vegetables or as a vegetable” are classified as vegetables in the USDA food pyramid.

So, what about legally? In the 19^th century, this issue came up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in response to a tariff debate. The Port Authority of New York considered tomatoes to be vegetables—and therefore charged a 10 percent import tax on them. A fruit importer pointed out that tomatoes were, in fact, fruits, which did not have a tax. In the court case, witnesses read and debated dictionary definitions for “tomato” as well as other foods, including—you guessed it—peppers.

Ultimately, the judges decided that vegetables were "usually served at dinner in, with, or after the soup, fish, or meats ... and not, like fruits generally, as dessert." Under this definition, tomatoes, peppers, and more were taxed as vegetables.

What Makes Peppers Hot?
Hot peppers contain capsaicin that triggers a protein in people: TRPV1. After the protein senses heat, it tells the brain, which in turn sends a message to the place in the body that encountered the capsaicin.

“Biting into a jalapeño pepper,” a scientific site explains, “has the same effect on the brain as touching a hot stove. . . . Pepper plants likely evolved their fake-out technique to keep certain animals from eating up their fruit.”

At some point in history, a brave soul realized that this was a temporary physical reaction—and could therefore enjoy the flavors of delicious hot peppers. 

History of Peppers
This crop is native to tropical parts of the Americas with prehistoric evidence of them found in Mexico and Peru. They were grown in Central and South America by multiple civilizations before the Spanish arrived. The Spanish then took the seeds to their country in 1493 and then they spread across Europe.

When natives offered Christopher Columbus chile peppers, he thought they gave off the same heat as black pepper, so he gave it the name that stuck. In the 1600s, a pirate (seriously!) with the name of Lionel Wafer wrote a book about the Americas and the Caribbean—and he discusses bell peppers. In 1896, the first stuffed peppers recipe appeared in a cookbook.

Peppers have also played a fun role in pop culture. Doubt that? How many times can you say the following—and how quickly?

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

This doozy was apparently first published in 1813 in London in Peter Piper's Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation by John Harris. This book contained a tongue twisting rhyme for every letter of the alphabet. People were orally sharing the ditty, though, for at least a generation before the book’s publication and some speculate that Peter Piper was really Pierre Poivre, an 18^th century horticulturist from France. 

Order Farm-Fresh Peppers for Dishes and Menus
Please talk to your product specialist about which fresh peppers you need to add the flavor, texture, and hues for your culinary creations. Our aji peppers, for example, are spicy with  slightly nutty flavors and a crunchy texture with each variety of them having wonderful distinctions.

Our bell peppers are sweet and mild with smooth, thick flesh while our shishito peppers have their unique, slightly wrinkled appearance. We were happy to see a Better Homes & Gardens article titled “The Mildly-Spiced Japanese Vegetable Perfect for Snacking” appear in August 2021 with the writer saying the following: “After the first bite of the perfectly blistered shishito pepper, I was in love with the mild-spice flavor and had to know more.”
When it comes to our mixed peppers, you can pick between a sweet mix or a hot one—or both. No matter what types of peppers you need, we want to thank you for choosing us as your personal farmer!