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Question: How long do you let your peppers ripen before picking them?

Justosmo

Justosmo

As some of you saw in my welcome post I'm new to growing peppers and gardening in general. I have a Malih-Helow that just ripened. My first ripe pepper ever! But I'm not sure how long to let it stay on the plant to reach perfection. So that's my question! How long on average do you let something sit after it has shown signs of being ripe.

IE turning green to red
 
     I usually tend to let the pod turn completely to its ripe color before I pick. (Deep blood red for a malih helow.) But sometimes if a plant is being sieged by slugs or some other pest that ruins fruit I'll pick early and let them ripen up indoors in a paper bag. 
     The comparison between a pepper that has just lost all its green but is still kind of pale and one that has had a chance to sit for a week or two after turning is night and day. Regardless of the thread of pests, all my peppers sit inside for at least a week before I use/process them. For instance I don't consider a "yellow" TS CARDI to be ripe until it starts turning orange. It makes a huge difference. 
 
Justosmo said:
As some of you saw in my welcome post I'm new to growing peppers and gardening in general. I have a Malih-Helow that just ripened. My first ripe pepper ever! But I'm not sure how long to let it stay on the plant to reach perfection. So that's my question! How long on average do you let something sit after it has shown signs of being ripe.

IE turning green to red
Click to expand...
To be honest, I like to let the pod stay on until it started to get soft to determine how long each variety takes. Mainly only matters for seed saving, to ensure mature seed.
For eating, try taking at different stages to find the best heat/flavor combo for your taste buds. Peppers are their hottest right as the color change is happening, and will be less hot, but sweeter as it ripens. Capsaicin will start to convert to sugars at that point.
Hope that helps.
 
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