Why are red and yellow peppers so much more expensive than green peppers? You may have heard that red and yellow bell peppers are simply ripe green peppers and cost more because they are longer on the vine to ripen. We investigated this claim and were unable to confirm it. What we could confirm is that green peppers are classified as “unripened” and can change colors as they ripen (they also get sweeter). However, the color of a pepper also depends on the specific variety. Red and yellow sweet bell peppers start out green and turn red when they’re ripe. But green sweet bell peppers start out green and are still green when they’re ripe!
The important difference between bell peppers is not their ripeness but their nutritional value. Green bell peppers contain 11% of the recommended daily value of vitamin A, 200% of vitamin C and 310mcg of beta carotene. Yellow bell peppers contain 7% of the recommended daily value of vitamin A, 569% of vitamin C and 223mcg of beta carotene. Red bell peppers, however, contain a whopping 93% of the recommended daily value of vitamin A, 317% of vitamin C, and 2,420mcg of beta carotene. So, in this case of traffic-light peppers, red doesn’t mean stop – it means go!
