Bell Pepper

Sweet and vegetal; University of Arizona Extension says it should not be the least bit hot.

Scoville heat units

0 to 0 SHU, per Fiery Foods (DeWitt); University of Arizona Extension agrees. DeWitt notes the pungent Mexi-Bell variety reaches 100 to 400. Log scale against the hottest chile in this guide.

The bell is the blocky, thick-walled sweet pepper and the most widely grown pepper in the United States. It has no heat. It entered competition chili at the first Terlingua cook-off in 1967, chopped into H. Allen Smith’s pot.

Paul Bosland of NMSU writes that bell refers to non-pungent, blocky types, the name apparently coming from the fruit’s shape, with four lobes preferred in the United States. Dave DeWitt describes pendant, three- or four-lobed, blunt pods that are dark green when young and usually ripen red, sometimes yellow, orange, or purple.

DeWitt counts about 65,000 acres in the United States, more than any other pepper, and about 22,000 in Mexico, most of it shipped north. Bells are eaten fresh in salads or stuffed with meat and baked. In Mexico they are called morrón or dulce, and Fiery Foods' glossary records mango as a local name for them in Indiana and Illinois.

DeWitt’s heat scale lists mild bells at zero Scoville units, alongside pimiento and U.S. paprika. Breeders have also produced pungent bells. DeWitt’s recommended Mexi-Bell has a slight bite of 100 to 400 units.

Bell Pepper

Sources