Opuntia ficus-indica

Adorned on the Mexican flag, nopales are the key ingredient to many rich, delicious dishes and grow throughout the Americas. Both raw and cooked, nopales are juicy with a mildly sweet flavor and are commonly used to make incredible salsas and savory dishes.

Cereus repandus

This cactus fruit sets itself apart from all others with a columnar growth habit as smooth, spike-free varieties. Like a dragon fruit but on the sweeter side, they have the refreshing texture of a kiwi but without the acidity, with pleasantly crunchy little black seeds and a mild sweet flavor. —Photo from @neelylab8

Hylocereous undatus

This incredible refreshing fruit is like biting into a giant kiwi without any of the acidity, but with the same juicy texture and pleasantly crunchy little black seeds. Flavor ranges from mildly sweet to sweeter, and fruits range from smooth to spiked. The growth form of the plants is a vining type epiphyte cactus that grows up trees.

Opuntia ficus-indica

Tunas are super sweet delicious fruits from specific fruiting varieties of nopales. The color that they are on the outside is indicative of the color of the flesh within, similar to pitayas in texture and flavor, and they have small but intense spikes that must be removed before peeling. —Photo from @amoxtli_andante

Opuntia matudae

This variety of tuna (prickly pear) grows on a pad-shaped cactus and tends to be lighter in color with a light pink blush and a particularly sour flavor. Also, rather than its seeds being distributed throughout the fruit like regular prickly pear and dragon fruit, it has a centralized cavity more like a cantaloupe or a tomato. —Photo from @luisguillermo_vargas.studio

Stenocereus thurberi

Pitayas grow on tall columnar cactuses, are smaller and sweeter than dragon fruit, and come in a wide variety of vibrant colors. The fruit is completely covered in spikes and must be harvested carefully with tongs. —Photo from Luces del Siglo

Cucumis sativus

Cucumbers with thicker skins hold their moisture in well, resulting in the crispest, crunchiest fruits with a stronger cucumber flavor than their thinner-skinned cousins.

Cucumis sativus

Thin-skinned cucumbers tend to be very soft and supple with a mild cumber flavor and sleek, uniform shape, perfect for cutting into spears and eating with dip and for fresh cucumber salads.

A jalapeño at 5000 SHU isn’t anything compared to a pepper who’s Scoville heat rating is in the the millions. These peppers can really be dangerous if not handled with care, but they are the secret ingredient to many hot sauces and other beloved dishes from around the world.

These peppers tend to be smaller in size with a much higher heat content that is to be approached with caution. With an average Scoville Heat rating of 5,000, Jalapeños are pretty mild as far as spicy peppers go, explore the full Pepper Index for twelve common spicy peppers enjoyed around the world, ranging up to 75,000 SHU.

These peppers are all known to have a super rich, savory flavor with a mild to warm heat. Harvested and eaten both green while the peppers are still pretty mild in addition to when ripened to their full red or brown color and spice level. Explore the full Pepper Index to learn more about six common warm peppers.

Although there are a very many tiny pepper in this world that will set your tongue on fire, the “Mini Peppers” in this group are sweet to mild and are meant to be eaten whole with ease. While shishitos and padrons tend to be more common at the farmers market, the range of super sweet, tropical, heatless habaneros are hot on the scene! Just toss these peppers into a frying pan with oil and serve with a sprinkle of salt, serve on a gorgeous multicolored platter, or eat them all to yourself alongside eggs for breakfast.

There’s nothing like a crisp sweet pepper in the middle of summer, from bells to Italian peppers to pimentos and Jimmy Nardellos. Whether you enjoy them raw like an apple, chopped up fresh into a salad or slaw, cooked into a stir-fry or roasted and blended into a sauce, sweet peppers are where it’s at. Click to explore the full Pepper Index including six common sweet peppers.

Photo-Baker Creek Seeds

Photo-Baker Creek