Bell Peppers

Bell peppers keep 1–2 weeks refrigerated. Store them unwashed and dry in the crisper, in a loosely closed or perforated bag.

Dryness is the priority. Peppers have a waxy skin that resists moisture loss well, but any water left sitting on the surface — particularly around the stem — causes soft rot quickly. Do not wash until you use them.

Cut peppers should be stored in a sealed container in the fridge and used within 3–4 days.

Red, orange, and yellow peppers keep a shorter time than green ones. They are the same plant at a later stage of ripeness, and riper fruit is always closer to the end of its life.

Peppers are one of the few vegetables that freeze well without blanching, chopped, for about 6 months — excellent for cooked applications.

The colors of bell peppers are stages of ripeness on the same plant, not different varieties. A green pepper is unripe; left on the plant it turns yellow, then orange, then red, becoming sweeter and substantially higher in vitamin C along the way.

This explains the storage difference directly: green peppers keep longest because they are the least mature, while red peppers are fully ripe and therefore closest to senescence. The higher price of red peppers reflects the extra weeks on the plant and the greater losses to spoilage.

Peppers have a good waxy cuticle, which is why they keep for a week or two while a zucchini or cucumber does not. Their weak point is the stem end, where the calyx traps moisture — this is almost always where mold and soft rot begin, and it is the first place to check.

The seeds and white pith inside are edible but bitter, and the pith is where a chili pepper's capsaicin concentrates. Bell peppers have essentially none.

Discard on soft mushy areas, mold at the stem or inside the cavity, sliminess, or a fermented smell. Wrinkled skin alone is dehydration — the pepper is fine for cooking, just past its best raw.