On Food and Cooking

green. The familiar green bell pepper has a
strong, distinctive aroma thanks to a
particular compound (isobutyl
methoxypyrazine) carried in oil droplets
within its cells; the very same compound
occasionally pops up in cabernet sauvignon
and sauvignon blanc wines and gives them a
usually unwelcome green-vegetable note.
Green fruits and mature yellow varieties are
also rich in the carotenoid lutein, which helps
prevent oxidative damage in the eye (p. 256).
In red varieties, both lutein and the green
aroma disappear during ripening along with
chlorophyll, and other carotenoid pigments
accumulate, the main ones being capsanthin,
capsorubin, as well as beta-carotene, the
precursor of vitamin A. Mature red capsicums
are among the richest carotenoid sources we
have; paprika powder may be more than 1%
pigment by weight. They’re also rich in
vitamin C. And thanks to their content of cell-
wall pectins, both fresh and rehydrated dried