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Fun Facts

An orange bell pepper isn't always orange! It starts off green and as it ripens, the bright orange color takes over. Native to Mexico, Central and South America, it's now grown around the world. Botanically speaking, a bell pepper is a fruit, but many classify it as a veggie for cooking. While these crunchy members of the nightshade family can be found in orange, green, red, yellow, white and purple, the Orange bell is a very important color in the Netherlands, because it's the official color of the House of Orange, the royal family. Today, many of these orange beauties are grown in hothouses, or greenhouses, some bigger than a football field! These indoor fruits grow hydroponically -- meaning without soil. The best thing? No bugs to deal with!

Star Power

These beautiful bells are stuffed with gobs of immune-boosting vitamin C -- almost twice the daily RDA of Pyroxidine - a type of vitamin B6 -- keeps red blood cells at peak performance, and vitamin K does its thing to keep your bones strong and help stop bleeding when you cut yourself. Even your nerves and muscles get a power boost, thanks to Vitamin E. Did you know that raw peppers are packed with more vitamins and minerals than peppers cooked on high heat?

Quick Preps

PREPARE: Wash well under cool water. Cut off the top of the pepper, just below the curve under the stem. Pop the stem out of the top circle. Slice off the bottom of the pepper. Set the remaining pepper upright, then slice through one side (do not cut the whole pepper in half). Cut out the middle seeds and white meat. Unroll the pepper, place skin side down, and cut into strips or chunks.

• Eat raw pepper strips for a snack, plain or dipped in hummus.
• Add pepper to salad, soup, stir fries, pasta dishes and pizza.
• Grill kabobs with chicken, peppers, onion and pineapple.
• Top burgers with grilled peppers.
• Purée pepper and garbanzo beans with olive oil for homemade hummus.
• Freeze pepper strips when in season to enjoy all year long.