• If you need help identifying a pepper, disease, or plant issue, please post in Identification.

flavor "Bitter aftertaste" of Bell Peppers?

Lucky Dog Hot Sauce

Lucky Dog Hot Sauce

I find bell peppers to be delightful. I'm eating a sammich with green bell pepper sliced on it right now - crispy, sweet, fresh tasting. In my fajitas they cook to a tender sweetness that acts as a nice buffer to the onions & jalapeño or Serrano peppers.

I consider my palate quite refined & sensitive. I taste subtleties that many of my friends overlook. And yet try as I might, since hearing someone on Facebook describe bells as having a "bitter aftertaste" I cannot detect this.

Anyone get a bitter aftertaste from bells? Just curious. :cheers:
 
The white membrane or whatever it's called is bitter. They are more grassy than bitter, but with that left on in a quick chop, yes, bitter.
 
Thanks Hops. 4got for a sec.
 
Red Bells are better than the green ones IMO. 
Yellow and Orange Bells fall in right behind the red to me.
Purple Beauties are nice as well.
 
I always prefer red, with things like sausage and peppers, on pizza, etc. The green at times can be bitter. Raw... I get more of a grassy taste, not really bitter. But cooked to death, when the color turns pale, yes bitter.

Have you ever had stuffed peppers? With the rice and meat inside? Those cook forever in the oven and turn an olive color. The sugars must cook out or something happens to them.
 
Eastern European style - yes, many times. Not bitter. And raw, not bitter. I cook green bells with onion for fajitas and don't find them bitter either, but I'm more of an al dente fan with veggies - I think anything you cook to death turns bitter.
With the stuffed peppers, i think it's because all the yumminess from inside is helping to flavor the skin.
 
The simple answer may be the bitter ones are picked too early. Supermarket produce is often picked too early. Peaches, etc.

Pick a green bell before the color breaks (a sign that it's about to turn) and it will have bitterness. Sugars develop over time. Like a jalapeno. Experienced growers know when to pick green jalapenos.

I imagine some bells are picked way too early, and when they reach a certain size instead of ripeness.

Different varieties too. Maybe hundreds?
 
I do and its all bell peppers including the red ones.
 
but most hot peppers are better and dont have it.
 
I have never liked bells (wish i did they look great).
 
The Hot Pepper said:
The simple answer may be the bitter ones are picked too early. Supermarket produce is often picked too early. Peaches, etc.Pick a green bell before the color breaks (a sign that it's about to turn) and it will have bitterness. Sugars develop over time. Like a jalapeno. Experienced growers know when to pick green jalapenos.I imagine some bells are picked way too early, and when they reach a certain size instead of ripeness.Different varieties too. Maybe hundreds?
Click to expand...
I finally got to use the "mark as best answer" button. This is a good explanation - some folks might be better at picking out the best bells at the store too. That all makes sense.
Orcmie said:
I do and its all bell peppers including the red ones.
 
but most hot peppers are better and dont have it.
 
I have never liked bells (wish i did they look great).
Click to expand...
I find jalapeños more bitter than bells. And several of the superhots varieties have a bitterness to me as well.

Interesting how people are wired differently. Some of this might be due to taste buds and how we individually perceive flavor. I prefer tangy candy, others prefer sweet. Some people love the flavor of certain veggies or fruits while others detest those same fruits & veggies. After 30+ years of trying, you can't pay me to eat an olive. I must've tried 374 kinds of olives. The only time I could stand them was a kalmata stew with beef tips slow cooked in wine, but it tasted nothing like olives.

So maybe taste buds & body chemistry also effect how strongly we perceive the bitter qualities of peppers?

Any physiologists at THP who want to chime in to support or debunk that? :p
Ps - I unmarked it. :p

I didn't know it would mark the topic "answered". Kinda discourages participation. Haha
 
I absolutely love the taste of bells (both green and red), specifically sauteed with onions and olive oil, then thrown in a fresh roll, with one of my barbecued hot Italian sausages gently placed on top. Nope nothing bitter about that! 
 
I've had some grocery store bells that had a slight bitter taste. I have never really had a sweet bell though. Most have a very slight sweet taste with that grassy aftertaste. There are peppers that are a lot sweeter than a bell.
 
It's kinds crazy but I don't like green peppers in any way/shape/form....but they are an ingredient in our fresh salsa for the last 18 years.  Luckily, green bells don't have a real prominent taste in the salsa and I just avoid those bits.  The 'Kid does the same thing just dipping chips into the sauce and not really eating the chunks.  
 
 
Hubby likes bell peps so when cooking dinner around our house, it can involve 2-3 pans depending on the ingredients and who-wants-what. 
 
OR- I just throw it all in the sauté pan and pick out the broccoli for me, the peppers for 'Dude, none-of-the-above for the 'Kid....  :rolleyes:
 
I cook with bell peppers alot, and I agree that the placenta will taste bitter, so I cut around that and trow it away.  I just slice the top off, use what I can off of it, and then slice out the sections between the placenta ribs.  Other than the placenta, every once in awhile I'll get a bell that tastes off/bitter.  
 
And stuffed bell peppers can be amazing if done correctly.  I like to cook mine in boiling water first, so they end up really tender after being baked.
 
Bitterness of sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.). Part 1. Bitter compounds production during heat-treatment of sweet pepper.
The longer the treatment the higher was the pepper bitterness value at 80°, reaching the maximum of about 19% after 85 min comparing with the control.
 
Yup, like those stuffed peppers in the oven for an hour. Bitter! Thanks for the link.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top