Peppers
by Gudrun Maybaum
Summer 2003
Botanical name: Capsicum annuum
Family: Solanaceae
All of the vegetables I have researched so far originated in the near or far east, the Mediterranean or Africa. Peppers are the first vegetable I have found that made their way around the world in the other direction.
Peppers originated in Latin and South America, where they have been known since about 5000 BC. They were the first cultivated plant in South America.
Christopher Columbus discovered sweet peppers on his first trip (1493) to the new world. He liked the delicious vegetable so much that he took it back to Europe, to be cultivated there. Over the next few hundred years, other seafarers brought back a wider variety of peppers.
The new Mediterranean home had an ideal climate and, by the 17th century, peppers had spread all over middle and southern Europe. About the same time, Portuguese seafarers and traders helped spread them even farther, into India and south and east Asia.
Today, sweet peppers have a place in many dishes in Europe, the Middle East and, naturally, South and North America. The Hungarians even dry and powder the red ones in order to add the much-loved taste to their dishes when the vegetable is not in season. Paprika is the Hungarian name for peppers.
No matter if eaten raw, in salads, roasted or grilled over a direct flame, or under a broiler, the taste of peppers is delicious and versatile.
All peppers are first green. When they are left on the vine, they ripen more, turn red and then yellow. That’s why red and yellow peppers are both sweeter and more expensive than the green ones.
All peppers are very high in vitamin C, calcium, phosphorus and potassium. No matter the color, peppers contain about the same amount of 10 important minerals, fatty acids and all known amino acids. Though the vitamin C in green peppers is twice that found in oranges, red and yellow peppers contain four times as much as oranges. The same is true for the amount of beta carotene. While green peppers have a rather high concentration of it, red ones contain 10 times the amount. Therefore, they are high on the cancer preventing and antioxidant food list.
All peppers are very high in folate, a B vitamin necessary for the production and maintenance of new cells and red blood cells. Folate also prevents changes in the DNA that can cause cancer.
Peppers are also high in bioflavonoids, which are plant compounds that act as antioxidants and pigments. Studies have found that bioflavonoids protect vitamin C from oxidation in the blood and so allow the body to benefit from more of it. Due to their anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral and antioxidant properties, bioflavonoides have many other health benefits. Studies conducted worldwide support the finding that diets high in bioflavonoids lower the risk for most diseases.
Red peppers also contain some capsaicin, a substance that causes the brain to release P, which acts like a messenger to the nervous system and causes it to relieve pain.
All peppers also contain lutein and zeaxanthin, which help protect against certain age-related eye problems.
While sweet peppers are at the market all year long, they are a warm-season vegetable. Therefore, they are best started from seeds indoors and then transplanted into the garden after the soil and air have warmed in the spring. They like a well-drained, fertile soil that is regularly supplied with moisture. They grow rather slowly and are at their peak in the fall.
References:
Healing Foods by, Miriam Polunin
Obst, Gemuse und exotische Fruechte fuer Papageien und Sittiche by Volker Wuerth
Kraeuter und Gewuerze by Sarah Garland
Medicinal Value of Natural Foods by Dr.W.H.Graves
http://nutrition.about.com/library/foodfind/blgreenpepper.htm
http://nutrition.about.com/library/foodfind/blredpepper.htm
http://www.foodfit.com/healthy/archive/healthySeasonPick_sept05.asp
http://www.foodfit.com/cooking/archive/FoodfitsTable_oct01.asp
http://www.hillersmarkets.com/nutrition_detail.cfm?nutrition_ID=2
http://www.metabolism.com/news/2001-06-15/