What is a purple bell pepper?
A purple bell pepper is usually a temporary color in a pepper's ripening process. Believe it or not, all peppers start out green, no matter the variety. As a pepper ripens and the sugars develop, the color changes, giving each colored pepper a different taste and nutritional value. A purple bell pepper found in the wild is basically an unripe red bell pepper. Think of it like a tomato. The longer a tomato stays on the vine, the riper it gets and the redder it becomes.
There are also purple varieties of bell peppers you can grow. When you go to the garden store, you can buy seeds or plants for red, yellow, orange, and green bell peppers, and the same goes for purple bell peppers. All bell peppers are part of the Capsicum annuum species and have been domesticated overtime for color, taste, and commercial use. So, be on the look out for the Purple Belle, Chocolate Bell, and Islander, as these are all common varieties of the purple bell pepper. The bell peppers you buy in the store are bred to ripen at their wanted color, giving them that perfect taste. Purple bell varieties won’t go through the same ripening color changes as a yellow or red pepper. They will start off as green and keep turning a darker and darker purple, with their ripest color being a purplish black.
Signs a Purple Bell Pepper is Ripe
The bell pepper is purple. Because all unripe bell peppers are green, it’s important to watch and know when a pepper is about to change color. Purple bell peppers get their unique color the longer they stay on the vine, letting the green color mature into a dark, blackish purple.
The bell pepper is around 4 to 7 inches (10 to 18 cm) long. Generally, you can pick a purple bell pepper whenever it reaches your desired size; however, the bigger it grows, the more mature it’ll get and the less bitter and purple it’ll be.
The bell pepper is firm to the touch. Bell peppers become softer and squishier as they mature. Because a purple bell pepper is ripe when it’s immature, it’s best to pick it when it’s still hard to the touch. Shiny and wrinkle-free skin is a visual sign that the pepper is firm.
When to Harvest Purple Bell Peppers
Harvest a purple bell pepper before it turns red. The longer a red bell pepper stays on the plant, the redder and riper it’ll become. Because of this, it’s best to harvest a purple bell pepper when there’s no sign of green and it’s reached a dark, almost blackish-brown color. A pepper’s flavor changes with the color, so don’t hesitate to pick it once it turns purple. You should try to plant bell peppers in the warm season. By doing this, you can provide them with the right temperature and enough sunlight. Remember to use mulch to help absorb sunlight and keep the soil warmer for a more extended period that will go through a thriving period, which will encourage the bell peppers’ growth.
Pick a purple bell pepper 3 to 6 weeks after it flowers. As a bell pepper plant matures, it’ll produce flowers to say, “Hey! I’m ready to make peppers!” Peppers will start to form where the flowers were, and you should have beautiful peppers ready to harvest in about 8 to 10 weeks.
Use shears or scissors to harvest a purple bell. The best way to pick a pepper is to avoid pulling on the stem, so cut them gently from the plant at the pedicel (the part of the pepper attached to the stem). This way, your bell pepper plant can continue growing new peppers without damage.
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