Will peppers ripen if removed from plant?

[joyceybabe]

I have lots of peppers and chillies in the greenhouse but none have ripened yet. Now I cannot abide green peppers. They are just unripe fruits and should be red/yellow or whatever colour but green? Yuck. We are due to have frosts any day soon and I don't think they will ripen on the plants. I shall be closing the greenhouse door every night and leave tham as long as possible but what is the best way to ripen them without having them shrivel up and die?

[Thelma Sanders]

They won't ripen off the plant, unless they are already very nearly there

[joyceybabe]

Thanks Thelma. I am right in thinking though that peppers are not meant to be green ie there isn't a variety that is green when ripe? My dear husband says I am wrong as he says there are loads of green ones in the supermarket. Just taste wrong to me.

[Bren In Pots]

If I was you I'd bring the plants indoors onto a window sill they'll be fine there all winter. Thats what I do each year, my Scotch bonnets and Californian sweet peppers will soon be starting their 4th winter.

[mothhawk]

Got any crab apple trees near you? Pick a carrier bag full of really ripe ones and scatter them under the plants. Go to the market and snaffle up all those over-ripe bananas being chucked away and scatter them too. That will help your peppers get a move on.

You can always dig up a plant or two and bring indoors if you've room.

Or try cutting the peppers off with a bit of branch, and putting them in a vase of water like flowers. Might give them a chance to ripen without shrivelling too much.

[joyceybabe]

If I was you I'd bring the plants indoors onto a window sill they'll be fine there all winter. Thats what I do each year, my Scotch bonnets and Californian sweet peppers will soon be starting their 4th winter.

Is it easy to overwinter them? I must give this a try. What is the best position to put them (although not all the rooms in my house have heating - we have storage heaters)
At the moment, they are in Morrisons flower buckets and there are about 12 of various types.

[Bren In Pots]

Joyce they go dormant over winter so they don't need heat just somewhere frost free, mine go in both North and South facing windows it doesn't seem to make that much difference. The plants look sort of dead after a while but they only need the odd bit of watering then in spring they soon pick up.
Some people prune the plants until theres only a stick left but to me thats a bit drastic.
Its like all gardening people do things different but this is what works for me.

[NatalieCooke]

I also have loads of green Chillies & a couple of green pepper. They don't look like they are already to turn red anytime soon.

[realfood]

I put my unripe ones on a sunny windowsill and they always ripen, no problems.

[Thelma Sanders]

My peppers have just started to drop their leaves, so I dug up the best plant of each variety that I've grown this year - potted them up and brought them inside.

There are a few varieties of peppers that are ripe when green, but I'm sure you would have noticed that on the seed packet, or on the label.

[Zelenina]

Thanks Thelma. I am right in thinking though that peppers are not meant to be green ie there isn't a variety that is green when ripe? My dear husband says I am wrong as he says there are loads of green ones in the supermarket. Just taste wrong to me.

You and your husband are both right in a way. On Slovak & Czech seed packets and on the seed suppliers' websites there is usually a distinction made between technical ripeness and botanical ripeness.

Botanical ripeness is when the pepper reaches it's final colour and maximum sweetness (if it is a sweet variety), and the seeds are mature enough for saving. Like you, I prefer eating them at this stage. I think of it as true ripeness or full ripeness.

Botanically ripe peppers are usually red, but can be orange, yellow or brown according to variety. I don't know of any variety that stays green when botanically ripe, even if the picture on the packet is green. The purple and black ones I've grown also turn red eventually.

But many people in central Europe prefer eating them before they are botanically ripe, when they are still green, or often a pale almost white colour. So they are harvested and sold at that stage, which is called technical ripeness. Many of the varieties here have been bred to stay in the technically ripe stage for a long time, and can be very slow to reach their final colour.

So when you buy green peppers in the supermarkets they are technically ripe but not botanically ripe, and will usually change colour if you keep them long enough.

[Philthy]

A few varieties of chilli are better used underripe; Padron, Jalapeno, Seranade, Fresno.. probably some others but those would be the most common I would think.

I put my unripe ones on a sunny windowsill and they always ripen, no problems.

Me too. The only downside is that sometimes the peppers go soft before they go ripe. But they're still perfectly usable.

[Scarlet]

A few varieties of chilli are better used underripe; Padron

Padron is my favourite green pepper, cooked in a hot pan, with a little salt. Possibly best with a beer but I like mine with a little white wine.

[kathyd]

Padron is my favourite green pepper, cooked in a hot pan, with a little salt. Possibly best with a beer but I like mine with a little white wine.

I first had padron peppers in Spain - I was told about one in every 20 was hot, the rest quite mild, which was true ... until I grew them at home - then every one of them nearly blew my head off! I'm not very good with hot things, so I've not grown them again, but I'm interested to see that on the packet they're now described as being 'hot' - I'm sure they weren't before!

joyce - have you tried different recipes with green peppers? They may change taste enough when cooked in different ways to be palatable to you? I love them just roasted and sprinkled with feta cheese, but there are loads of things you could do with them if you have problems ripening them in the house...

[More basil]

Or how about drying them? The flavour of a lot of chillies becomes quite different when dried, even when you do it before they ripen. Some develop a delicious smokey flavour, other a deeper, richer taste. Anyway, they tend to loose that green tang. Pickling is another option, the green ones stay crunchy and are great with middle eastern food or on a burger. I use 1/2 white wine vinegar, half boiled water and chuck in a bit of flavoring. The current favourite is tarragon and bay leaves.