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Banana Peppers 101: How to Grow, Harvest and Eat These Flavorful Peppers!

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Emma Gallagher is a Brit living in North Carolina. She grows organic gardens and... Read More

Banana peppers are a member of the Capsicum Annuum family, just like their cousins the jalapeño, cayenne, and bell pepper. Unsurprisingly, they are named ‘banana peppers’ due to their uncanny resemblance to the sweet fruit of the same name. They are long and slender and have fewer seeds than some other peppers, making them great for stuffing and pickling. Banana peppers are usually yellow when encountered on the side of sandwiches or as pickles, but they can redden up as they ripen!

So, Just How Spicy Are They?

One thing that makes banana peppers so popular is that they hold a lot of flavor with just a hint of heat. They are usually less spicy than an average jalepeño. A pepper’s heat is rated on the Scoville Scale with zero being the mildest ranking and numbers into the millions being the spiciest. The humble banana pepper ranks between 0-500 on the Scoville Scale making it rather mild, while jalapeños can reach the low thousands. Note that, the yellower the banana pepper the sweeter they should be.

Are they Nutritious?

Yes! Banana peppers have quite an impressive nutrient profile. Banana peppers are high in fiber with just one cup containing 4 grams. They are also a good source of vitamin C, A, B6, and K, and are high in potassium, calcium, and folate.

How Can I Grow My Own?

Some wonderful news is that banana peppers are very easy to grow at home, and you don’t even need to have a full garden to do so. Pepper plants do very well in containers, so you can grow some on your porch or sunny balcony.

Banana peppers require lots of sunshine and a good growing season of at least two months after transplanting.

Source some banana pepper seeds, and be sure to pick some that are to your liking heat- and sweetness-wise. Some will be labeled as spicier than others. You can start your seeds indoors mid-late February so that they will be ready to plant after the last frost of the year. You should check these dates for your specific growing zone.

Fill some seedling pots with organic starting mix and sow your seeds at about 1/4 inch deep. You can plant one or two seeds in each pot and thin them out later. Keep your seed pots in a warm sunny place. You should not let the soil dry out, nor should you drown the seeds. In about 7-14 days you should start to see little sprouts appear.

Source: Pepper Geek/Youtube

Before you plant your seedlings out, they need to have at least two sets of adult leaves. There should be no danger of any more frosts, and the soil needs to be at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit or 16 degrees C. Find a sunny spot in your garden to transplant your seedling or get a big pot (3 gallons) if you are looking to do some container gardening.

Keep your peppers well weeded and add a little organic fertilizer if you think that they need a boost. Keeping your plants mulched with some straw will help to hold moisture in the soil and prevent pesky weeds from competing.

When Can I Harvest My Peppers?

Your peppers should be ready for harvest about 70 days after transplanting them to a pot or garden bed. You can pick the peppers as and when you need them. Pick them young and yellow for a milder, more tender pepper, or you can leave them on the plant to mature. The plant will not survive the first frost of the year, so don’t hang around and leave them to die. Get picking!

What Can I Do with My Peppers?

Source: Pepper Geek/Youtube

Banana peppers are a perfect pickling candidate. Choose peppers that are blemish-free and wash and dry them. Next, chop your peppers into 1/4 inch rounds, and add them to a sterilized mason canning jar.

You need to make some pickling brine from 2 cups of white vinegar, 1 cup of water, a tablespoon of pure/kosher salt, and some spices. You can use peppercorns, mustard seeds, celery seeds, and garlic if you like. Put your ingredients in a pot on a stove and bring them to a rolling boil. Then, pour your vinegar mixture over your peppers until they are completely covered.

You could give these pickles a water bath to preserve them for longer (be sure to follow proper guidelines), but it is much easier and less time-consuming to just put a lid on your jar and pop them in the fridge for storage. You can dip into your pickles for a month or two. Enjoy them with sandwiches, piled on nachos, or served with beans and rice.

Banana Pepper Recipes:

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