Discovering the Joys of Bell Peppers
Whether you have a love of salads and are looking for something extra crispy or you are interested in learning how to make the stuffed peppers that are so popular in Mexico, you’ll find that there is a lot to learn when you want to think of adding bell peppers to your diet. You’ll find that bell peppers are an excellent source of antioxidants, and depending on what color you get, you’ll also be able to enjoy bell peppers that are faintly bitter and spicy, or enjoy ones that are fully ripe and quite sweet.
At the supermarket, you will often find red, green and yellow peppers, but if you keep an eye out or shop in specialty stores, you’ll also see that white, brown, blue and purple varieties are also common. The color will depend on the ripeness, with green peppers being the color of under-ripeness, and you’ll find that the other colors will have varying degrees of sweetness involved on them. You’ll find that the more vibrant the color, the sweeter the taste is. These peppers are quite hardy; they started in central America, but at the end of the fifteenth century, they were brought to Spain and then spread out across Asia and Europe.
When you are looking to include more bell peppers in your diet, you will soon see that there are many ways to do this. If you purchase red or yellow bell peppers, you’ll find that they are quite easy to eat raw, and that you can do so easily; you can eat them on their own, or you can add a little bit of salt or pepper or ranch dressing. You’ll also soon see that you have plenty of options when it comes to cooking them.
One wonderfully easy and fun thing to do is to make bruschetta. All you need to do is dice up a yellow bell pepper, two large tomatoes and a large onion. Take the diced vegetables and throw them into a pot, adding plenty of minced garlic and bring it up to a boil. Once it has boiled, take it out, and let it chill overnight. The cold bruschetta that you have afterwards is excellent on top of crackers or on top of toasted bread, whether you like home-baked foccacia or simple slices of white bread.
Bell peppers are great and great for you, so make sure you take some time to purchase a few the next time you are at the supermarket or at your local farmer’s market. You’ll find that there are plenty of options and recipes to find, so just find one that you think that you will enjoy!
