I am looking for a few recommendations for sweet peppers. What do you grow, is it productive (usually anyway, I realize this year was challenging) does it taste good? Bell, pendant, small snack, etc., shape isn't what I am worried over. I am looking for mostly taste. Thanks!
I've grown Big Jim the last 2 yrs with good results. They're easy to clean, taste good with veggies or meat in a stir-fry.
Marconi's are very good. Thin walled, great for grilling with mushrooms and onions. I have never had any luck growing a sweet or bell pepper though. I grow hot peppers and trade for the sweets.
Hey there, C-- I use the Big Banana F1 Hybrid, it has an elongated shape. I also have used a variety of "bell-shaped" ones. The Sweet Pepper 'Jumbo Sweet' F1 Hybrid is a pretty heavy cropper. It is a heavy cropper. It has a small/thin inner core and is thus good to stuff. I have also grown one called "Chocolate Beauty". It was good and different in appearance, but not particularly "special". I have also grown paprika's that are yellow and ones that are orange when fully ripe. They are interesting to see and look good in food, but of course the taste is the same as others. I find that the difference in taste is not great. The real difference I find is in wall thickness, shape and colour. I use paprika's fresh in salads, stuffed or in stir-fries. Good luck on your hunt for a marketable pap.
When we were up north, we grew Gypsy which is a very good tasting, thin walled, slightly elongated bell type. Now we grow Keystone Select, which has a thicker wall and is blockier, and produces like crazy. Right now the plants are covered with peppers from golf ball size up to ready to be picked. We have been very pleased with both varieties. We also have an unknown sweet banana pepper in the garden now--pretty plants but not many peppers. We got the seed from a neighbor who has grown them for years, and I should have asked about the productivity before I planted them.
I should ad Carolyn, that I usually buy seeds from seed companies, but sometimes I go to the supermarkets and flip through the bags and loose paprika's to select out the very, very biggest and I buy these, take them home and clean then, process them and freeze-in bits to be used later. The seeds I clean and place on the window sill to dry completely and then store for germination in the spring. One store-bought paprika has more seeds in it than a pack from the seed company and is less expensive. The big plus though is that you can see the size of the fruit before you plant the seeds and not have to wait until fruition. The paps in the supermarket are all sizes, so I seek-out the largest-- in the hopes that there is some genetic predisposition to be very large. Size isn't everything, but when one wants a lot to freeze-in; then the bigger, the better.
Thanks for your responses. I appreciate them. Rockhound is that a sweet hybrid, bell or pendant? FBG, I find that growing sweet peppers is easiest in the high tunnel. They just seem to do better. They look better they don't have the misshapen spots that either seem to be bug damage or mold inside of the peppers.UGH! Hot peppers are easier outside. Jupiter was a great OP pepper. Hardy and productive. nice size green to red peppers. Give it a try. I have seeds if you want to try it. Yummy is another GREAT sweet, orange snacking pepper. Nothing seems to bother it and it is very productive, just small. not a bell pepper if you want a bell pepper. I haven't done any Marconi's yet. Maybe I will give them a trial next year. S, I haven't heard of the Jumbo Sweet. I'll look for it, though. I am always willing to try a new one. Choc. Beauty looks different, but you are right that it doesn't taste better just because it looks different. I like tasty food! When you go to the store and look through the paprika's are looking at paprika peppers specifically or are you calling all peppers paprikas? just wondering. Jane I haven't grown the gypsy and I almost did the keystone select this year, but the cost was a little high for the quantity I was looking at, so I skipped it. Maybe I will find it in a smaller quantity this year and try them here in our climate. Thanks
I just do the bell peppers for sweets and I plant Big Bertha and California Wonder. Big Bertha is a thinner walled and longer plant so good stuffer. Cal Wonder is just a regular bell variety. Both can have 8 to ten peppers per plant and make way more than I can use. Of course those are in various stages of growth, these do pretty well in Texas heat with sufficient water.
Mart, those were two of the varieties that i did grow this year. They seem to be two that are always dependable for producing.
Hey C--No I am not calling all the peppers "paprika's", just the capsicums or bell pepper types and the long, thick pointy ones--liker the "banana type that I mentioned. Shall I send you links for the seeds of "jumbo" and "banana"? Y'know...now that I think of it, I believe the the word, "paprika" is the word that we use for bell peppers and the large, long pointy ones. That could be confusing to you I suppose if you guys do not use this word..
Yep, S, You are correct. We don't call peppers paprikas except for peppers that are specifically used to make paprika. That was why I was asking. I wasn't sure if you called them that meaning they were used as fresh eating bell peppers or they were being used as drying peppers.
After reading all the post here I'm so jealous because what we have here is just chili and nothing else!!! It is just so frustrating when there is no choice.
Carolyn~ I am sorry, Big Jim is not totally sweet. I should have said "compared to the hot ones I grow, Big Jim is sweet-ER". It barely has any spice tho.
