Green Vs. Colored Bell Peppers

The Green Bell Pepper

• The green bell pepper is a crisp, fresh-tasting vegetable that is also the most commonly used by consumers. It is much more affordable than the colored varieties. What many people do not realize is that the green bell pepper is actually the unripe form of the red bell pepper, one of the colored bell peppers. That is why the green bell pepper has a stronger flavor.

Colored Bell Peppers

• The most common types of colored bell peppers are yellow, red and orange. While both green and colored bell pepper varieties are referred to as "sweet," this actually means that bell peppers lack the spiciness of other types of peppers. The colored bell peppers provide more actual sweetness in an eating experience. Rare colored varieties are also available, including ivory, purple, white and brown, but these are novelties. They are not often found in the supermarket and are mainly used as color accents rather than for flavoring food in everyday use.

Pricing Differences

• Green bell peppers are cheaper than colored peppers. They are technically unripe, so the harvest cycle for green bell peppers is shorter. Growers can fit more of these cycles into the growing season. In addition, green bell peppers suffer much less loss in initial versus final yield than the colored varieties do. Since the harvest cycle is a few days longer for the colored bell pepper varieties, farmers and grocers must charge more in order to make growing colored bell peppers a profitable exercise. The cheaper price of green bell peppers translates into greater quantity and availability at the grocery store.

Nutritional Differences

• Colored bell peppers are much higher in nutritional value than green bell peppers, although they are both healthy eating choices. This is another reason for the premium price on colored bell peppers. Colored bell peppers are allowed to ripen and thus have time to store more vitamins and minerals, which leads to enhanced nutritional value. Studies have shown that while green and colored bell peppers are both excellent sources of vitamin C, colored bell peppers outstrip green bell peppers in this category. Colored bell peppers also contain far more beta carotene than green bell peppers.