On Fri, 18 Jul 2003 10:19:25 GMT, troikette
wrote:

Thanks everyone, much appreciated.

BTW the advice to take them off and let them ripen off the plant came
from the BBC gardening website so shows what they know!

Most peppers are "ripe", that is, culinarily useful to some extent, by
the time they are distinguishable from, say, a big green bug. :-) I
would say 'first stage' ripe was at the point they reached a size
equal to what you normally see in a market. These, sweet or hot, are
most often green. Sweet (bell) peppers of more exotic colors very
quickly turn yellow, red, purple, etc. This would be 'second stage'
ripe. Regular ol' green peppers will eventually turn yellowish-redish
on the plant, and their flavor mellow and sweeten somewhat. 'Third
stage'? There is a fine line between ripe-ripe and decay. Green
peppers bought/harvested last week will start to show color changes
*off* the plant, too. And a certain amount of shriveling as the
moisture declines. As Pat says, unless there is frost threatening,
there's not much reason to pick peppers prematurely and "ripen"
indoors.

The thought that the BBC may be wrong horrifies me!