Kitchen note: Cooking With Colorful Peppers: Flavor, Heat, and Kitchen Uses is written for home cooks who want practical, seasonal food ideas without wasting ingredients or time. Use these notes as a starting point for fresher meals, better pantry planning, and simple weeknight cooking.
Ornamental peppers are grown as annuals in Utah, just like the peppers we grow in our vegetable gardens. Ornamental peppers are edible, but they are not grown to be eaten. They are grown for their beauty; colorful peppers and green or black foliage. Star performers of the fall garden, ornamental peppers are tolerant of very hot sunny conditions and they only need a good soaking once a week during the hottest parts of summer. Plant them with fall-blooming mums for excellent color right up until the first frost.
