How to pick a good bell pepper

Unlike flour or cornstarch, bell peppers don’t come in brands — the variation is in variety, color, and freshness. This page focuses on how to recognize a good one at the market, not on comparing packaged products.

Bell pepper, not ají

Even though they sometimes get mixed up at the same market stall, bell pepper (pimiento) and ají aren’t the same thing. Both are fruits of the Capsicum genus, but “pimiento” refers to sweet varieties (Capsicum annuum, with no meaningful heat), while “ají” — a word of Taíno origin widely used across South America, especially in Peru — is reserved for the spicy varieties¹. Ají amarillo, ají panca, and rocoto, for example, are other Capsicum species or varieties, not a “spicy bell pepper.”

Green, yellow, and red are the same fruit

Red bell pepper isn’t a different variety from green — it’s the same fruit at a more advanced ripeness stage. That’s why green bell peppers are firmer and slightly bitter (less sugar), while red ones have fully ripened and are sweeter; yellow and orange fall somewhere in between².

How to choose a good bell pepper

• Skin: smooth and firm, with no wrinkles or dark spots.
• Weight: it should feel heavy for its size — that indicates it’s well hydrated.
• Firmness: slight give when pressed, but not soft. If it’s very hard and rigid, it probably didn’t fully ripen.
• Base (lobes): if you flip the pepper and look at the base, ones with four lobes tend to be sweeter than three-lobed ones².
• Smell: a fresh, mild aroma is a good sign; avoid ones with no smell at all or an off smell.
• Stem: should look green and firm, not wilted or dark.

Regulatory framework in Peru

Fresh bell pepper as a raw agricultural product is regulated under Peruvian Technical Standard NTP 012.803:2022, approved by INACAL, which applies specifically to fruits of Capsicum annuum L. and sets physical and sensory quality requirements: peppers must be whole, clean, healthy, firm, and show the color and typical shape of the variety, among other criteria³.

Peru has more than 350 registered varieties of ajíes, rocotos, and peppers, and is the third-largest country in the world for production and export of Capsicum fruits — a crop that more than 11,000 farming families depend on³.

Nutrition facts (verified data)

There’s no barcode for a loose bell pepper, so the source here isn’t a supermarket but USDA’s nutrition database (via Wikipedia, which cites the USDA FoodData Central entry directly):

Green bell pepper has the same basic makeup, but with significantly less vitamin C and vitamin A than red — it’s the same fruit at an earlier ripeness stage, before it builds up those nutrients⁴.

Verified price

How to store it

• Whole, in the fridge: in the crisper drawer, unwashed and out of the plastic bag it came in (so it can breathe), it keeps for up to 2 weeks⁵.
• Cut: in a sealed container in the fridge, it lasts about 3 days — not much longer⁵.
• Frozen: if you blanch it first (boil briefly, then cool immediately in ice water), it keeps for up to a year without losing much quality⁵.

Sources