Maybe not everybody knows that bell peppers, also known as sweet peppers or capsicum, are not very digestible, so even if they’re really good, contain high quantities of vitamin C and add great taste to dishes they can mess you up a nice evening! After a short explanation, I’ll tell you my secret tips to avoid this forever… yes, forever!
All these problems are due to bell peppers skin and two substances contained in them: Solanine and Flavin.
Solanine is a poison contained in all the members of the Solanaceae family (bell peppers, eggplants, potatoes, tomatoes…) and if ingested in big quantities can be really toxic to the body, but this substance tends to disappear gradually as the fruit arrives to the full maturity.
Flavin is contained in the white inner part of the bell pepper and in the seeds, and once ingested it attaches to the stomach wall causing pain or heaviness.
The bell peppers skin is another reason that doesn’t make them very digestible because the intestine struggles to expel it, giving us a sense of puffiness, even for several days.
So the first things you need to do are:
– buy organic and well ripe fruits;
– cut off the white inner part and seeds of the fruit as well as the stem.
Now many of you would say: “yes, I always do this, she invented the wheel…”.
And then come the interesting part!
If you want to eat bell peppers raw, like in salads (mmmm I like them so much!) the only things to do are to cut off the skin and then wash the fruit (in that case you would need a thick bell pepper).
Many people boil the bell pepper for a minute and then plunge it into an ice bath to easily remove the skin. I tried this but the bell pepper taste came up again after 1 hour, so I cannot recommend this to you.
Otherwise, if you prefer bell peppers cooked, you shouldn’t remove the skin because as they cook they will shrink and above all you would remove all the flavors and vitamins that are mainly concentrated under the skin.
I read somewhere (I’m sorry but this happened years ago and I really don’t remember the source) that a secret for a digestible bell pepper is……….. a PEAR!
Yes, just a little sweet pear. So when you start cooking you peppers, add a finely chopped pear (peeled and seeds cleaned).
To cook 3 bell peppers I use just half of a pear and it works as well!
This little amount of pear doesn’t make your dish too sweet, you would not even notice it at the end.
So let me know if this works for you too!
The reason nobody makes videos of scalding green pepper skins to peel them is that doesn’t work. To peel a pepper, char quickly over an open flame, then scrape off the skin!
I haven’t tried your recipe yet but will definitely do! It makes a lot of sense as I have problems after eating cooked bell peppers, eggplants and tomatoes; I could find a correlation between having tomatoes and eggplants with skins and my stomach problem but never thought it’s the same issue with bell peppers too…
Thanks a lot… will try it…
I once cut up about 5 green sweet peppers and sauted them in oil. They tasted great, and then, for about 24 hours I had severe aching in every joint of my body…felt like a flu, but with only that symptom. I am sure now that this was a toxic reaction. I haven’t done this since.
Hi Bobbie, yes you’re right. Now you know you shouldn’t eat them anymore 😉
I just found your blog and I like it very much. I have a question – I am always sick after eating eggplants. How can I avoid that? Can I try pears? And peeling and salting them doesn’t help.
Hi Mojca,
have you read this post about eggplant? http://www.ilariasperfectrecipes.com/how-to-remove-bitterness-from-eggplants/
It explains how to get rid of Solanine that causes digestion problems.
You can even try to boil them (sliced) for two minutes in boiling water plus a cup of white wine, one tbsp vinegar, one tbsp sugar and a pinch of salt. Then drain and cook as desired.
If you feel a kind of stomach acidity after eating them you may have gastritis seeing that eggplants like bell peppers are acidic vegetables.
Thanks for stopping by!
Our old Italian grandmother panel said salt them overnight. Theory is the salt denatures the nightshade poison. If you’re really allergic like numbness in the mouth or trouble breathing don’t try it.
It’s like what I do with aubergines/eggplants before cooking them.
Never heard of that for bell peppers, thank you Rhys for your suggestion!
Hmm, I still like to have it fresh, but perhaps can remove the white part properly.
Hmmm … can’t say I have ever noticed that I had any problems digesting bell peppers. I don’t prefer green bells in any form (even if they are organic), and this trick unfortunately can’t help that.
I don’t like green bell peppers either.
Last time I bought them the greengrocer put one green among the yellow and red bell peppers.
Well, I couldn’t throw it away so I cooked the green one too with this trick and it came out good anyway.
So when you cook bell peppers the pear works with all the kind of peppers (on the basis of my tests).