Most of you are familiar with the Scoville scale - the scale rates the SHU or Scoville Heat Units of various spicy ingredients. The scale goes from 0 for a non-spicy bell pepper to as high as 16 million for some pure capsaicin. So, you can pick your seasoning pepper variety by how much you want to turn up the heat.
First the flavorful but no heat BELL Peppers. They are most commonly green which are harvested before full ripening and have a slightly bitter flavor. A bit more ripened, you get yellow and orange that have a more fruity flavor. Then there is the red bell pepper that still has no heat but rather a sweet flavor. The bells are great for adding color and extra flavor to lots of dishes including salads.
JALAPENO Peppers are the best know for spicing up a chili or other dish. These peppers are small usually and kind of bullet shaped. It is a medium heat pepper very popular for salsa and marinades.
If you like dishes with some real heat, the HABANERO pepper is the pepper that will likely be in the ingredients. They come in variations of yellow, red and orange and deliver a burning heat. So, they can provide both the fire and the color for great dishes.
Here's a nice added bonus with peppers. They carry a lot of nutritional value (vitamin C, A and K) - generally the hotter peppers carry more vitamin value and have also been linked to lowering cholesterol.
All and all, as all of you already know, PEPPERS are GREAT. At ZestFest you will discover all kinds of ways to use them and explore the wonderful tastes of peppers.
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