When shopping, you are mostly spoiled for choice when it comes to peppers, because the healthy vegetable is available in a wide variety: Whether red, orange, yellow or green – already with the colors the selection is large. In addition, there are also different shapes: While sweet peppers are rather thick and round, spicy peppers have a longer and narrower shape. The various types of peppers also differ from one another in taste: from mild to hot, the peppers are available in a wide variety of gradations. However, the different types of peppers have one thing in common: peppers are healthy, have many vitamins and only a few calories.
Bell peppers: healthy nutritional values
The different colors of the peppers reflect the degree of ripeness of the vegetable: in the unripe state, all peppers are green, but as they ripen they become more yellow or reddish and thus sweeter in taste. However, regardless of whether they are red, yellow or green, the ingredients of the peppers differ only slightly from one another: all peppers have hardly any calories; depending on the degree of ripeness, 100 grams of peppers contain just 19 to 28 kilocalories. The low calorie content is due to the fact that 100 grams of peppers contain only 3 grams of carbohydrates, 0.3 grams of fat and 1.1 grams of protein. But peppers are healthy not only because they have hardly any calories, but also because of their ingredients. Thus, the bell bell pepper has large amounts of:
- Potassium
- Magnesium
- Zinc
- Calcium
In addition, the bell pepper is rich in vitamins. In addition to vitamins A and B, it contains particularly high levels of vitamin C. In red peppers, the vitamin C content is particularly high compared to other colored peppers. While 100 grams of green peppers contain about 140 milligrams of vitamin C, a red tomato bell pepper contains about 400 milligrams. This makes the bell bell pepper one of the most vitamin C-rich foods of all.
Other ingredients of the bell bell pepper
Flavonoids and carotenes are also present in bell peppers. Flavonoids possess antioxidant activity and thus have a great impact on human health. They act as free radical scavengers in the body and reduce the risk of certain diseases. For example, increased flavonoid intake reduces the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. Carotenes are found primarily in colored fruits. They also have a cell-protecting effect as antioxidants. The different hues of bell peppers come from different cartinoid pigments. Most cartinoids are red, but there are also yellow pigments. The substance capsaicin is responsible for the hotness of the bell pepper. Capsaicin does not irritate the taste buds on the tongue, but causes a heat and pain stimulus. The heat of peppers is determined with the help of the Scoville index. It indicates the capsaicin content in the respective fruit. A normal sweet bell pepper is classified as mild on this scale, cherry peppers or hot peppers are considered spicy, jalapenos are classified as medium hot and cayenne plants as hot.
Peppers as a remedy
Peppers were already used by Native Americans as a remedy. Here they were used, among other things, as a remedy for osteoarthritis. Today, peppers are used mainly in the so-called ABC patches, which are used to relieve rheumatic pain. Products containing capsaicin are also used for problems such as lumbago or migraine. Because of their high content of vitamin C, peppers also help prevent heart attacks and improve circulatory problems.
Allergies and other adverse effects
In addition to these positive effects, however, the hotter varieties of peppers are also suspected of being triggers of stomach pain, diarrhea, bladder irritation and incontinence. In isolated cases, the consumption of peppers can also trigger an allergy. This is usually a case of cross-allergy: presumably, peppers contain a protein that is also found in birch. Thus, people who are allergic to birch pollen may also experience an allergic reaction when eating bell peppers.
The family of peppers is large
The bell bell pepper belongs to the nightshade family. This makes it closely related to plants such as tomatoes, eggplants and potatoes. However, while in the case of the potato the tuber lying under the ground is used for food production, in the case of the bell bell pepper the fruits are harvested.These are also called peppers, but have other names depending on the color, size and hotness of the fruit. Thus, hot peppers and chilies also belong to the bell pepper family. In general, a distinction is made between spicy peppers, which taste relatively hot due to their high capsaicin content, and sweet peppers, which contain only a little capsaicin. The bell pepper originates from South America, from the area between Brazil and Bolivia. Through birds, peppers were spread over time to Central America. In Mexico, evidence has been found that the bell pepper was already used as a useful plant here around 7000 BC. Today, peppers are grown worldwide in tropical as well as temperate zones.
Use of the bell bell pepper
Peppers are now used almost everywhere in the world for cooking, either as a spice or as a vegetable. Although the hotter forms of peppers are primarily popular in more southern countries, such as Mexico. The best-known spice made from paprika is paprika powder. Depending on the spiciness, paprika powder comes in different varieties. For the production of the spice, the fruits of the paprika are first dried and then ground. Hotter spices are obtained from different types of chili, for example, the cayenne pepper from the chili variety Cayenne. In addition, seasoning sauces such as sambal oelek, tabasco sauce or ajvar are also made from peppers. As a vegetable, peppers can be used raw as well as stuffed, steamed or fried. A particularly popular dish in Germany is stuffed peppers with rice or minced meat. Instead of minced meat, peppers can alternatively be stuffed with vegetables and feta cheese. At room temperature, fresh peppers will keep for two to three days, and in the refrigerator for up to a week.