Are bell peppers the same as green peppers?

skysmom65

Bell Pepper is a cultivar group of the species Capsicum annuum, as are the jalapeño and pimento. Nomenclature: The bell pepper refers to the actual fruit of the capsicum plant. The term bell pepper is only used in North America. In British English, it is simply referred to as a "pepper" , whereas in many Commonwealth of Nations countries, such as India, Malaysia and Australia, it is called capsicum. Varieties: The color can be green, red, yellow, orange and, more rarely, white, purple, blue and brown, depending on when they are harvested. Green peppers are unripe bell peppers, while the others are all ripe, with the color variation based on cultivar selection. Because they are unripe, green peppers are less sweet and slightly more bitter than yellow, orange, or red peppers, which all have a rather similar hot taste. Green bell peppers also tend to have a significantly lower retail value, making them more common in restaurants than other bell peppers. The taste of ripe peppers can also vary with growing conditions and post-harvest storage treatment; the sweetest are fruit allowed to ripen fully on the plant in full sunshine, while fruit harvested green and after-ripened in storage are less sweet. http://www.answers.com/Bell%20Pepper Feb 25 07, 1:30 PM