The farmers market stalls are glowing with peppers right now — baskets of glossy green, red, yellow, orange, and deep purple fruits, each one bringing its own flavor, fragrance, and personality to the table.
This is peak pepper season, and each week the variety seems to expand. You’ll find sweet bell peppers for salads and sautés, smoky poblanos for roasting, shishitos and padróns for blistering in a hot skillet, and plenty of chilies for salsas, sauces, pickling, and homemade hot sauce.
Peppers are beloved for their color and crunch, but they are also remarkably versatile. They can be sweet, grassy, fruity, smoky, floral, or fiery — sometimes all in the same family. They’re also rich in vitamin C, vitamin A, potassium, and antioxidants, making them as nourishing as they are beautiful.
A Few Fun Facts About Peppers
- Peppers have ancient roots. Native to Central and South America, peppers have been cultivated and enjoyed for thousands of years.
- Not all peppers are hot. Bell peppers are sweet and mild because they don’t produce capsaicin, the compound responsible for chile heat.
- Heat is measured on the Scoville scale. The Scoville scale measures how much capsaicin a pepper contains. A sweet bell pepper sits at zero, while some of the hottest chilies climb into the millions.
- Pepper X is currently the world-record holder. It replaced the Carolina Reaper as the hottest pepper recognized by Guinness World Records — a reminder that pepper growers are always pushing the limits.
- Peppers are global travelers. From Mexican salsas and Indian curries to Thai stir-fries, Spanish romesco, Hungarian paprika, and Italian peperonata, peppers have become essential to cuisines around the world.
- They have a long history beyond the kitchen. Chile peppers have been used traditionally to support digestion, stimulate circulation, and bring warming heat to foods and remedies. Some growers also use pepper-based sprays as a natural pest deterrent.
- There are thousands to discover. From sweet Italian frying peppers to fruity baccatum chilies and deeply smoky poblanos, the pepper family is wonderfully diverse — and farmers market season is the best time to explore it.
How to Use Them
Peppers shine in almost every kind of cooking. Roast them until their skins blister and peel away, then tuck them into sandwiches, salads, pasta, or antipasto platters. Slice sweet peppers raw for salads and crudité. Pickle jalapeños, serranos, or banana peppers for tangy crunch. Char shishitos or padróns in a hot skillet with olive oil and flaky salt for one of the easiest appetizers of the season.
For deeper flavor, sauté bell peppers with onions until soft and sweet, stuff poblanos or bells with rice and herbs, or simmer chilies into soups, stews, beans, and sauces. Hot peppers can also be fermented into hot sauce, dried for chili flakes, or blended into a bright salsa with market tomatoes, garlic, cilantro, and lime.
Looking for something simple and beautiful? Pair roasted sweet peppers with local goat cheese, olive oil, and fresh herbs. Or balance the heat of chilies with a drizzle of farmers market honey. Pepper jelly also makes a terrific glaze for grilled meats or a sweet-hot topping for cream cheese and crackers.
Now is the moment to enjoy peppers in all their colorful, flavorful glory. As you wander the market, let your eyes — and your taste buds — guide you toward something new.
Looking for a Specific Pepper?
Availability can change from week to week, but this guide will help you find the growers bringing a wide range of sweet and hot peppers to market.
Borba Family Farms
Bell, Fresno, Guindilla, Hot Portugal, Hungarian, Italian, Jalapeño, Padrón, Poblano, Shishito, Southwestern Chili
KT Farms
Spicy Asian peppers
Phil Foster Ranch / Pinnacle
Anaheim, Bell, Corno di Toro, Jalapeño, Mini Sweet, Padrón, Poblano, Serrano, Shishito
Cabrillo College Horticulture
Padrón, Rocoto, Shishito
Pacific Rare Nursery
Hot peppers, sweet peppers
Prevedelli Farm
Carmen, El Jefe, Jalapeño, Jimmy Nardello, Padrón
RECIPES: Here’s a link to a collection of our pepper recipes!
