Bell peppers bitter?

[Hatgirl]

I love hot peppers, but dislike bell peppers because they taste bitter. I could never understand why most people like the horrible bitter things. It's only just occurred to me that maybe other people don't taste the bitterness - like cilantro/coriander. So... a poll!

[Worth1]

Hatgirl you didn't give me a choice that I could express my thoughts correctly so I said yes I like bitter.
But to some people say pungent for bitter.
To me bitter is an oil cured black olive or even worse a green persimmon.
I like oil cured black olives but hate green persimmons.

To me peppers are never bitter but sometime pungent but I like pungent in peppers.

Worth

[PaulF]

Maybe like some tomato varieties there are pepper varieties without the bitter taste. I like sweet peppers and there are some really good bells and elongated bells.

[clkeiper]

I can't in good faith answer the poll either. I like orange peppers. red and yellow to me are pretty blech. green peppers? they are bitter.

[Redbaron]

sometimes bitter, sometimes not. All bell peppers do not taste the same, much like tomatoes, the flavor varies. I don't like bitter bells, but fire broiling and pealing bitter bells can remove some or most of the bitterness. Other bells are not bitter to begin with.

[rhines81]

In speaking of bell peppers ... I agree with the posts above, they are different. Never found a green one that I liked much. Red ones are more likely the sweetest and I only use those in my cooking with the exception of roasting which will usually brings out a tolerable sweetness in even some green ones.
I am growing enough varieties of sweet peppers this year to maybe find one that will get me away from bells all together. Cubanelles are tasty.
I find that 'mild' to 'hot' peppers need to be ripe for the best flavor. Superhots, I personally don't think it matters as they annihilate my taste buds unless they are diluted.

[Tiny Tim]

I must have dead taste buds. I've really never noticed a bitter taste to green peppers. I do agree that red,orange and yellow peppers taste sweeter.

[FarmerShawn]

The best flavored green bell by far that I’ve tried is Flavorburst. I get mine from Fedco. It is a light, maybe lime, green. For ripe sweets, I LOVE snacking on the little snack varieties, like Yummy, and of those, I find the orange ones the best.


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[Hatgirl]

Every bell pepper, of every colour, makes my tongue pucker like a lemon does. I was picking bits off a pizza the day before yesterday and I could tell if I was eating a bit of cheese that used to have a pepper on it because my tongue would react.
That's when I thought "It'd make a lot more sense if this wasn't most people's reaction"

[zipcode]

Are we talking about unripe red peppers or ripe? I never noticed the ripe ones to be bitter. And the unripe bell peppers are probably not meant to be used like that. Raw they taste like grass and cooked can be indeed bitter or very bitter.

If you want a pepper for cooking you need to look into one of those pointy peppers that pass through a cream-lightgreen colour, like Romanian Rainbow (and use it as the cream stage). Bell peppers are not for cooking.

[Worth1]

"Bell peppers are not meant for cooking".

Explain the holy trinity, stuffed bell peppers, ratatouille and many other dishes that call for cooking bell peppers.

[Hatgirl]

Cooked or raw, prepared by my own family or prepared by trained chefs, ripe or unripe. All bell peppers taste bitter to me.

[zipcode]

Originally Posted by Worth1

"Bell peppers are not meant for cooking".

Explain the holy trinity, stuffed bell peppers, ratatouille and many other dishes that call for cooking bell peppers.

Not from what I know. Never seen anyone cooking with a bell pepper in eastern europe. The standard for boiling dishes/fried is the light-green to cream peppers mentioned before (yes, for stuffing too) and for things that required grilling or similar is the pointy dark red when ripe types (which are also used for paprika). There's also the flat kind of bell pepper with very thick walls usually used for vinegar storage.

All bell peppers taste bitter to me.

Hm, you are definitely more sensitive to bitterness then the average person then. I like to munch on ripe bell peppers as a fruit, since it's so sweet and slightly tangy.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by zipcode

Not from what I know. Never seen anyone cooking with a bell pepper in eastern europe. The standard for boiling dishes/fried is the light-green to cream peppers mentioned before (yes, for stuffing too) and for things that required grilling or similar is the pointy dark red when ripe types (which are also used for paprika). There's also the flat kind of bell pepper with very thick walls usually used for vinegar storage.



Hm, you are definitely more sensitive to bitterness then the average person then. I like to munch on ripe bell peppers as a fruit, since it's so sweet and slightly tangy.

The US isn't exactly ate up with pepper varieties in the store unlike parts of Europe were they have so many types of paprika and so on.
For this reason the dreaded bell pepper finds it's way in many dishes.
Dishes I personally prefer another pepper if I can find it.
I wont even use them in the "holey trinity" when making gumbo.
I use the poblano instead.

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by Hatgirl

Every bell pepper, of every colour, makes my tongue pucker like a lemon does. I was picking bits off a pizza the day before yesterday and I could tell if I was eating a bit of cheese that used to have a pepper on it because my tongue would react.
That's when I thought "It'd make a lot more sense if this wasn't most people's reaction"

actually... cooked peppers just are disgusting to me. none of us like them in my household... must be a genetic thing. I do make stuffed peppers since my husband likes them but never use green peppers for them. only colored bells or roumanian hots. If I have pizza I also pick them off or order without. blech. I have a friend who is allergic to bell peppers but not hot peppers. how odd is that?