Picking, maturing, and storing the two nightshade family members of peppers and tomatoes are very different.
In order to keep your peppers as fresh as possible after harvesting, here is a look at how to tell when it’s time to pick them and how to store them after harvest.
1. When Should Peppers Be Picked?
When it comes to harvesting peppers, there is some information that is contradictory regarding whether or not the peppers will ripen after being removed from the plant.
As is the case with tomatoes, peppers will continue to develop and ripen even after being removed from the plant. But they do so much less in such a short amount of time, and they surely aren’t as productive as tomatoes. They also have a far lower chance of ripening to the point when they change colors.
On average, it takes much longer for peppers to mature on the plant than it does for tomatoes to do so.
There are a lot of first-time gardeners who are concerned that their pepper crop is not ripening properly in comparison to their tomato harvest. However, it takes the vast majority of peppers (including bell peppers, jalapenos, sweet peppers, and others) a longer amount of time to fully ripen and change color.
At any time during the growing process, you can still harvest and enjoy a wonderful green pepper. That includes smoky, caramelized red, yellow, and orange hues. And, as you’ll see in the next paragraphs, making your selections early has many advantages.
