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I'm growing what I was told was banana peppers; however, it's now fall and starting to cool off, but the peppers are not yet yellow. Rather than ripen yellow, they appear to be turning red. Is this an intermediate stage between green and yellow, or do I have a non-yellow variety?

My plant, containing green-red peppers

Yamikuronue
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  • They look like anahiem or new mexico chilies to me – WebChemist Oct 05 '13 at 00:47
  • @WebChemist I'll have my husband taste-test them, Anaheim is solidly hotter than banana – Yamikuronue Oct 05 '13 at 02:11
  • I've got a pack of Sweet Banana pepper seeds that shows red peppers on the label (Purchased from the Dollar Tree). We had banana peppers from another pack in 2014 (I think from the same company, and there were no red peppers on the label), but none of the 2014 ones turned red (in fact, they got black streaks on them after turning yellow, but that's as far as they got; I didn't try letting them ripen longer to see what happened, as they were already on for a good while). – Brōtsyorfuzthrāx Feb 23 '15 at 22:54

1 Answers1

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Red is generally a final ripening stage for most peppers, indicating they are fully mature. There are many different kinds of mild chilis, however, referred to as "banana peppers" and some of them eventually become red instead of golden yellow. It is also definitely possible you have something other than a true banana pepper growing - through mislabeling or cross-pollination of the seed used to produce the plant.

I'd go by taste rather than by appearance in deciding which is the most likely case - unless these are "Hungarian" Banana Peppers, they should be mild, slightly sweet, and slightly tangy in taste. If they are hot, then you definitely have something that's not your regular banana pepper.

TeresaMcgH
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  • My husband tasted one and declared it a mild pepper for sure :) I think it might actually be "italian sweet pepper"? Which I've seen for sale at the farmer's market, and looks like some peppers I've also seen marked "banana" at the farmer's market. – Yamikuronue Oct 05 '13 at 02:14