You Should Grow More Interesting Peppers

When most people think of growing peppers, they become devilish spicy fiends, devouring ghost peppers and evil hybrids meant to maximize the Scoville gauge. I kindly suggest that you consider the other end of the pepper family, where flavor and body take precedence over the ability to burn tubes at either end of your body.

These are exactly the kind of peppers you want to grow because you are unlikely to stumble upon them in any store. Peppers themselves are strangely expensive, especially the run-of-the-mill bell peppers, which I would be tempted to grow if I didn’t know how hard it is to pick sweet peppers without a bug bite or a flaw. Here are a few peppers you probably don’t think about growing but should. (Great news: you still have time to pick them up at your garden center.)

Pepperoncini pepper

I find pickled pepperoncini peppers intoxicating. As a kid, I ate them straight out of the can. As an adult, I’ve found that canning my own pickled pepperoncini allows me to have them in abundance all year round and allows me to selectively pickle the little ones because, frankly, they’re the best. It also allows me to fine-tune the brine to my liking – vinegary yet balanced. Pepperoncini are Italian and will most likely be found under the same name in your nursery. If you want to grow from seed, Golden Greek is my favorite pepperoncini variety.

paprika pepper

I was embarrassingly old when I learned that paprika is ground, dried pepper—particularly Hungarian pepper—and there are many varieties to choose from. Paprika peppers are generally sweet and are allowed to ripen to a red color before being harvested and dehydrated. The dehydrated peppers are then turned into paprika bliss. Going through this process, whether it’s buying seedlings or growing from seeds , is incredibly satisfying.

Pimento pepper

Oh yes, this is also Hungarian pepper. (Hungarians were very generous with sweet peppers.) Grow red peppers, which tend to have more pulp, then marinate them, then stuff them with a filling of your choice, or make hot peppers. These flat peppers are perfect for stuffing provolone and prosciutto and marinating in oil. (I’m sure these peppers have a name, but I never found it.)

gochujang pepper

If you’ve fallen into the trap of gochujang internet trends, you need to grow some Korean peppers. These hot peppers are the basis of the famous pasta, which is little more than the peppers themselves with the addition of garlic, soy sauce and miso. In your garden, these prolific plants produce many long, thin, wrinkled peppers that stand out from your greens. I grow Hong Gochu, but just ask your nursery for Korean pepper.

Baby bell pepper

Remember I talked about bell pepper? They are pain. They take up a lot of space and only produce a few sweet peppers at the end of the season (if you’re lucky). I don’t want a bunch of bell peppers at once, I want what every gardener wants: bell peppers at my disposal when I want them. The trick I’ve learned is to sweet peppers. Each of these plants is far more amazing than regular sized sweet pepper plants, producing as many peppers as a padron pepper plant, and because of their smaller size, it is much easier to bring each of them to maturity unscathed by disease or pests. The local nursery sells many young pepper plants, but I myself am partial to them .

In the end, it’s not too late to head to the garden center, walk past the pagans with their Satan’s Joyride peppers, and find a little sunny spot in the yard for the peppers you’ll really enjoy picking.