Saturday, October 13, 2012

Bell Pepper Seeds

So, all my life I've been chopping out the pith (the white part) and the seeds from my bell peppers before I eat or cook them.

Today, I'm looking at them and all of a sudden I'm thinking: why do I do that? I realize that this is simply habit rather than a knowledge of the inner workings of bell peppers. So I start to investigate.

Turns out...

1. They are edible, both the pith and the seeds. Rumors that they were poisonous exist, but turned out to be untrue. Both the chile pepper and bell pepper seeds are edible.
2. They taste a little bitter, which is why most people discard them.
3. There is no information on nutritional data of bell pepper seeds/pith any-freaking-where I can find.
4. My nutritionist had at one point wanted me to find more seeds - of any kind - that I could eat because they have both protein and certain nutrients like vitamin E that are hard for me to get.

So...bell pepper seeds are now on the menu. Possibly the pith too, although we'll see. I'm pan roasting bell pepper seeds with a little olive oil and salt. Also going to add them with their roasted bell pepper flesh into a hummus to see how it goes. Maybe I'll luck out and it'll make up for the lack of tahini (yeah, not). But knowing that it can't hurt, I'm somewhat excited at a potentially new snack idea!

Hoping this turns out well!

3 comments:

  1. I collect the pith, freeze it, and when I have enough of it use it in my soups. I always liquidize the soup. I tried using the seeds but they just settle out at the bottom, liquidizing doesn't break them up.

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    Replies
    1. Oh nice - I hadn't thought of collecting and freezing that. Nice!

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  2. I nutribullet my whole bell pepper then use it daily in my lunch preparation.

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