Sweet peppers (also called Bell peppers) have beautiful shapes. Their sensual curves contain sweet, crunchy flesh. Inside are not only the seeds of the next generation, but also (often) surprising lumps of smaller pepper bits (I haven't been able to find a proper term for these "babies").
Green, yellow, orange and red peppers are all fruit of the same plant - Capsicum annuum. The green are the least ripe; the red are the ripest; the yellow and orange peppers fall in between. As the pepper ripens, its nutritional content changes -- red peppers have much more Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and Beta Carotene than the green. (The yellow and orange, which taste the best to me, surprisingly have less Vitamin A and Beta Carotene than either the green or the red.)
The sweet peppers are related to all the various hot chili peppers -- but not to the plant that gives us peppercorns (white and black pepper, Piper nigrum). The fleshy peppers all originate in Central and South America, while the peppercorns come from India.
Botany not withstanding, sharp flavor seems connected to sharp flavor. When we look for heat in our food, where better to turn than a pepper? But give praise also to the sweet peppers, which put juicy flavor, beautiful shapes and vibrant color in our salads.
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