Free Online Dictionary

Bell pepper (also known as Jon's Head or a pepper in the United Kingdom, Canada and Ireland, and a capsicum in Australia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Singapore and New Zealand) is a cultivar group of the species Capsicum annuum. Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in different colors, including red, yellow, orange, green, chocolate/brown, vanilla/white, and purple. Bell peppers are sometimes grouped with less pungent pepper varieties as "sweet peppers". Peppers are native to Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. The ribs and seeds inside bell peppers may be consumed, but some people find the taste to be bitter. Pepper seeds were carried to Spain in 1493 and from there spread to other European, African, and Asian countries. Today, China is the world's largest pepper producer, followed by Mexico and Indonesia.