Description: Ground red pepper, known for its spicy heat, comes a range of capsicum peppers. Red pepper chilis originally start off green before ripening into an orange-red to deep dark red colour, are best grown in the summer months, between 70 to 84 degrees and sunny weather. One or multiple red chiles pepper—up to four cultivars—can be used to create ground red pepper. Jalapeños, serrano’s, and Anaheim chilis are some of the most commonly used chilies to make ground red pepper. Ground red pepper are frequently found in a variety of dishes including Italian, Indian, Mexican, and Caribbean.
Health Benefits:
- Immune System Support
Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that fights cell damage, boosts immune system response to microbes, and has an anti-inflammatory effect. Red peppers are rich in vitamin c, though roasting them reduces their vitamin C content by up to 25 percent.
- Improve Eye and Skin Health
The vitamin A and beta-carotene in red peppers offers good support for your overall vision and eye health. Vitamin A is also helpful in supporting skin cells, healing wounds, and boosting white blood cell growth.
- Nutrition
Red peppers are a rich source of several vitamins, minerals, and antioxidant compounds. Interestingly, red bell pepper is also the only Capsicum variety that contains little to no capsaicin—the compound responsible for spiciness.
Locations of harvest:
Time Period of Harvest:
Harvest Process: Peppers are tropical plants that are grown as warm season annuals here. Given plenty of sun, peppers are relatively easy to grow. Plant them in well-draining soil with plenty of organic matter. Of course, it depends upon the pepper variety, but most peppers should be spaced about 12 to 16 inches (31-41 cm.) apart. The harvesting of peppers will vary according to which type of pepper variety you have. Most sweet varieties mature within 60 to 90 days, while their very hot cousins may take up to 150 days to mature. Pepper harvest time for many hot varieties of peppers, like jalapeños, is often indicated when the fruit is a deep, dark green. Other hot pepper varieties such as Cayenne, Serrano, Anaheim, Tabasco, or Celestial are mature after a colour change from green to orange, reddish brown, or red. Picking hot pepper fruit as it matures encourages the plant to continue to fruit. Hot pepper plants should continue to fruit but production wanes into the fall. Sweet pepper, such as bell peppers, are often harvested when the fruit is still green, but full sized. Allowing the bell pepper to remain on the plant and continue to ripen, changing colours from yellow, orange, to red before picking pepper fruit, will result in sweeter peppers. Another sweet pepper, the banana pepper, is also harvested when yellow, orange, or red. Sweet pimientos are picked when red and around 4 inches (10 cm.) long by 2 to 3 inches (5-8 cm.) wide. Cherry peppers will vary in size as well as flavor and are harvested when orange to dark red.
Dehydration Process: The traditional method of drying red peppers is to hang them in a hot, dry room out of direct sunlight. Drying under the sun will bleach away the colour, and humidity may promote mould. A food dehydrator is used to turn the fruit into the bright red powder that red pepper is associated with. One must cut the fruit open and remove the seeds. Lay the fruit on a baking tray in the dehydrator machine and bake in the oven at 100C for several hours, turning several times. The fruit is dry when it feels brittle. The peppers can then be ground in a special compression machine in accordance with the standards as required.
