Sweet pepper varieties

Sweet peppers carry no usable heat at all, and nineteen of them sit in this catalog. They divide into two families that are used quite differently. The blocky bells, among them California Wonder, Big Bertha, King of the North, Purple Beauty, Chocolate Beauty and Sweet Chocolate, have thick walls and a hollow shape built for stuffing and slicing, from 70 g up to 300 g. The long Italian frying types — Marconi Red, Corno di Toro and Jimmy Nardello — have thinner walls and more sugar, and collapse into something sweet in a hot pan rather than holding their shape. Sweet Banana sits between the two, and Habanada is the odd one: a habanero bred at Cornell with the heat taken out, so it keeps the tropical aroma of a Capsicum chinense at zero Scoville units. Days to harvest run 61 to 100 days from transplant, and fruit weight spans more than thirty-fold across the band, which is a bigger practical difference than colour.

Varieties
19
Days to harvest (from transplant)
61–100
Fruit weight
0–11 oz (8–300 g)
Heat

19 No heat

Compare all 19 side by side

All 19 sweet pepper varieties

Ripe Big Bertha pepper pods on the plant Big Bertha The big bell: half as long again as a standard bell, with TMV resistance. 73 days 6–10 oz (180–280 g) (estimated)
Ripe California Wonder pepper pods on the plant California Wonder The standard American bell pepper: blocky, thick-walled, green to red. 78 days 5–7 oz (140–200 g) (estimated)
Ripe Chocolate Beauty pepper pods on the plant Chocolate Beauty Large bell that ripens chocolate brown and sweetens as it colours, with TMV resistance. 68 days (estimated) 4–6 oz (120–180 g) (estimated)
Ripe Corno di Toro pepper pods on the plant Corno di Toro Italian bull's horn frying pepper, thin-walled and very sweet, in red and yellow. 80 days (estimated) 3–5 oz (80–130 g) (estimated)
Ripe Gypsy pepper pods on the plant Gypsy Early sweet hybrid that ripens yellow to red on a compact plant, with TMV resistance. 61 days 2–4 oz (70–110 g) (estimated)
Ripe Habanada pepper pods on the plant Habanada A habanero with the heat bred out: same tropical aroma, zero Scoville. 95 days (estimated) 0–1 oz (8–15 g) (estimated)
Ripe Jimmy Nardello pepper pods on the plant Jimmy Nardello Italian frying pepper with long, thin-walled red fruit and no heat. 90 days (estimated) ~1 oz (20–35 g) (estimated)
Ripe King of the North pepper pods on the plant King of the North Full-sized bell that ripens early enough for short northern seasons. 68 days (estimated) 4–6 oz (110–170 g) (estimated)
Ripe Marconi Red pepper pods on the plant Marconi Red The original Italian Marconi: long, thin-walled and very sweet when red. 73 days 3–5 oz (90–140 g) (estimated)
Ripe Purple Beauty pepper pods on the plant Purple Beauty Compact bell pepper picked at the dark purple stage, thick-walled and mildly sweet. 72 days 3–5 oz (90–140 g) (estimated)
Ripe Sweet Banana pepper pods on the plant Sweet Banana Waxy yellow sweet pepper, the classic pickling pod and the one most people mean by banana pepper. 72 days (estimated) 1–2 oz (40–60 g) (estimated)
Ripe Sweet Chocolate pepper pods on the plant Sweet Chocolate Brown bell bred in New Hampshire to ripen fully where the season is short. 70 days (estimated) 3–5 oz (90–140 g) (estimated)
Ripe Canary Bell pepper pods on the plant Canary Bell Open-pollinated yellow bell, slower to ripen than most. 100 days 5–7 oz (140–200 g) (estimated)
Ripe Carmen pepper pods on the plant Carmen Early hybrid bull's horn sweet pepper, an All-America Selections winner. 75 days 4–6 oz (100–170 g) (estimated)
Ripe Chinese Giant pepper pods on the plant Chinese Giant Very large, almost square old heirloom bell for stuffing. 82 days (estimated) 7–11 oz (200–300 g) (estimated)
Ripe Emerald Giant pepper pods on the plant Emerald Giant Thick-walled green bell from 1963, bred for heavy yields. 77 days 5–8 oz (150–230 g) (estimated)
Ripe Flavorburst pepper pods on the plant Flavorburst Hybrid yellow bell that ripens early from apple green to gold. 85 days (estimated) 5–8 oz (150–230 g) (estimated)
Ripe Lilac Bell pepper pods on the plant Lilac Bell Lavender sweet bell pepper that ripens to red. 75 days 4–6 oz (120–180 g) (estimated)
Ripe Red Cherry Sweet pepper pods on the plant Red Cherry Sweet Round sweet cherry pepper for pickling and stuffing, compact enough for pots. 85 days (estimated) ~1 oz (15–30 g) (estimated)

How to choose

  1. Decide which family you want before you look at colour. A bell is for stuffing, slicing into rings and eating raw; an Italian frying type is for the pan, where its thin walls and sugar do something a bell cannot. Buying a frying pepper expecting a bell is the most common disappointment in this band.

  2. Match the days to your season honestly. King of the North ripens at 68 days from transplant and is named for exactly that reason; Jimmy Nardello needs 90 and Habanada 95. Peppers start indoors six to nine weeks before the last frost, so the real calendar is longer than the number. A bell that does not reach its ripe colour before frost is still edible green, but it is not what you grew it for.

  3. Treat colour as the last filter. This band covers red, yellow, orange, purple and two brown varieties, and almost every one of them is green first and ripens to its final colour later. The purple ones in particular hold their colour only until they ripen fully. Pick the season and the shape first, then choose from what is left.

  4. Think about wall thickness rather than size. A 280 g Big Bertha and a 25 g Jimmy Nardello are both sweet peppers, but the first is a container for a filling and the second is a strip of sugar and skin. The variety pages list weight and use side by side, which is the pair worth reading together.

Compare side by side

Color Uses
Big Bertha 73 6–10 oz (180–280 g) (estimated) No heat 4 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) Stuffing, Fresh & salads, Roasting, Slicing
California Wonder 78 5–7 oz (140–200 g) (estimated) No heat 4 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) Fresh & salads, Stuffing, Roasting, Slicing
Canary Bell 100 5–7 oz (140–200 g) (estimated) No heat 4 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) Stuffing, Roasting, Fresh & salads
Carmen 75 4–6 oz (100–170 g) (estimated) No heat 4 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) / 3 (estimated) Roasting, Fresh & salads, Slicing
Chinese Giant 82 (estimated) 7–11 oz (200–300 g) (estimated) No heat 4 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) Stuffing, Roasting, Fresh & salads
Chocolate Beauty 68 (estimated) 4–6 oz (120–180 g) (estimated) No heat 5 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) Fresh & salads, Stuffing, Roasting, Slicing
Corno di Toro 80 (estimated) 3–5 oz (80–130 g) (estimated) No heat 5 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) / 3 (estimated) Roasting, Fresh & salads, Slicing, Canning
Emerald Giant 77 5–8 oz (150–230 g) (estimated) No heat 3 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) Stuffing, Fresh & salads, Roasting
Flavorburst 85 (estimated) 5–8 oz (150–230 g) (estimated) No heat 4 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) Fresh & salads, Stuffing, Slicing
Gypsy 61 2–4 oz (70–110 g) (estimated) No heat 4 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) Fresh & salads, Roasting, Stuffing
Habanada 95 (estimated) 0–1 oz (8–15 g) (estimated) No heat 4 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) / 1 (estimated) Fresh & salads, Snacking, Sauce & paste
Jimmy Nardello 90 (estimated) ~1 oz (20–35 g) (estimated) No heat 4 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) / 3 (estimated) Fresh & salads, Snacking, Roasting
King of the North 68 (estimated) 4–6 oz (110–170 g) (estimated) No heat 4 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) Fresh & salads, Stuffing, Roasting, Slicing
Lilac Bell 75 4–6 oz (120–180 g) (estimated) No heat 4 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) Fresh & salads, Stuffing, Slicing
Marconi Red 73 3–5 oz (90–140 g) (estimated) No heat 5 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) / 3 (estimated) Roasting, Fresh & salads, Slicing, Canning
Purple Beauty 72 3–5 oz (90–140 g) (estimated) No heat 4 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) Fresh & salads, Stuffing, Roasting, Snacking
Red Cherry Sweet 85 (estimated) ~1 oz (15–30 g) (estimated) No heat 4 (estimated) / 3 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) Canning, Stuffing, Fresh & salads
Sweet Banana 72 (estimated) 1–2 oz (40–60 g) (estimated) No heat 4 (estimated) / 3 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) Fresh & salads, Canning, Stuffing, Snacking
Sweet Chocolate 70 (estimated) 3–5 oz (90–140 g) (estimated) No heat 5 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) / 2 (estimated) Fresh & salads, Stuffing, Slicing, Canning

Values marked like this (estimated) are estimates.

Frequently asked questions

Do sweet peppers have any heat at all?

Effectively none. Most varieties here measure zero Scoville heat units; four carry a published upper figure of 100 to 500, which is below what most people notice as heat and well under a jalapeño. If you want a trace of warmth, the mild band starts at about 100 units.

What is the difference between a bell pepper and an Italian frying pepper?

Wall thickness, shape and sugar. A bell is blocky and thick-walled, which is what lets it hold a filling and stay crisp raw. A frying type such as Marconi Red or Jimmy Nardello is long, tapered and thinner, with more sugar, so it softens and sweetens quickly in oil. Neither substitutes well for the other.

Is Habanada actually a habanero?

Genetically it comes from one. Michael Mazourek at Cornell bred out the capsaicin while keeping the aroma, so the pod smells and tastes floral and tropical like a habanero and measures no heat. It is the only variety in this band that tastes of a superhot.

Why are some sweet peppers brown or purple?

Because ripening does not have to end at red. Chocolate Beauty and Sweet Chocolate ripen through green to a deep brown, and Purple Beauty holds purple until it ripens further. The colour is a difference in pigment, not in flavour class: all of them are sweet peppers and are used the same way.

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