Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Purple Peppers

Since it's humble start earlier this summer, my backyard garden is looking much better these days:



Not bad considering that less than 2 months ago this area was an empty canvas (well except for the patches of crabgrass).  But these days, I have an actual vegetable garden!  Check out these pepper plants:



If you look closely, you might notice something a little odd:



Purple peppers!  I never knew it, but in addition to red and green bell peppers there is such a thing as dark purple (almost black) bell peppers called Purple Beauty.  I found them at a local farmer’s market where I bought all of my herbs and veggies and decided to give them a try.



And beauties they are!  They’re not very big and the flavor is similar to a regular bell peppers.  They're just a a little less sweet than red bell peppers and a little less crispy than green bell peppers.  Strangely, I used the peppers on a pizza and after baking they turned from purple to green!



In addition to two purple pepper plants, I also have two banana peppers and two red bell pepper plants.  I have yet to harvest those varieties, so in the meanwhile I'm enjoying these oddballs!  Have you ever tried a purple pepper?