Red Pepper Vitamin C Content

Peppers are fruits but most people treat them like vegetables. As vegetables, they are among the most varied and versatile. Their versatility makes them popular, which is why they are used in cuisines all over the world. One of their important nutritional benefits is their high ascorbic acid content. Ascorbic acid is better known as vitamin C. Below, we will examine peppers and their reputation for being excellent sources of vitamin C.

How much vitamin C is there in peppers?

Your body needs approximately 90 mg of vitamin C each day. The amount you will get from a pepper depends on several factors including the pepper's type and its ripeness. Depending on the pepper, you might get anywhere from 100 mg per one-cup serving to 190 mg.

Do some types of peppers provide more vitamin C than others?

Bell peppers — especially ripe bells — are known to be among the best vitamin C sources available. A part of this has to do with the fact that the pepper has a particularly high concentration of the nutrient. Another factor here is the fact that it is relatively easy to eat a one-cup serving of bell pepper. Many people will have a hard time finishing a cup of hot peppers.

A cup of green bell peppers provides a little more than your daily requirement for vitamin C. It gives you about 95 mg of the vitamin.

Red bell peppers provide more than 1.5 times your daily requirement in each cup. It'd be slightly more if they are organically grown. A red bell pepper can provide up to 190 mg of the vitamin in a one-cup serving.

In comparison to bell peppers, a cup of jalapeños contains about 107 mg of vitamin C and a cup of serranos has about 47 mg.

Do ripe peppers provide more vitamin C than unripe peppers?

The color of chili peppers often indicates their degree of ripeness. Peppers can ripen to different colors depending on the variety, with red or yellow being common colors. Most sources state that unripe green peppers have the lowest concentration of vitamin C and that the level increases as the pepper ripens. A few experts believe that the vitamin content peaks after the green stage but before the pepper is fully ripe, which means that it is lower in fully ripe peppers.

How do peppers compare to other sources of vitamin C like oranges?

You'll be surprised. One cup of chopped red bell pepper provides three times the vitamin C in an orange. A one-cup serving of sliced orange fruit provides you with about 95 mg of the vitamin, which is about the same amount as a cup of green bell pepper.

Granted, oanges do have the advantage of being relatively easy to eat on their own when compared to bell pepper. Limes contain even less vitamin C than oranges because they are smaller. You get only about 20 mg of vitamin C in each fruit, which is roughly 25 percent of what you need each day.

Do dried peppers lose their vitamin C?

Dried chilies do lose some but not because the peppers are dehydrated. Instead, they lose it because of the high temperatures used during the drying process.


UPDATE NOTICE: This post was updated on March 21, 2020 to include new content. It was originally published on November 11, 2019.

Red Pepper Vitamin C Content

Source: https://www.pepperscale.com/vitamin-c-in-peppers/