Funny thing happened... we came back from being out of town and one of our banana peppers had started to turn orange. So we figured we'd pick it and see how an orange one tasted. Well it looked really good on the outside, but once we cut into it, (and thank god we did or I would have bitten right into it) the blossom end of the pepper had mold growing on the inside. it didn't look too bad, so we just cut that part off and ate it anyways. Some of the seeds were also a grayish-green color. I just can't figure out why in the world this would happen. I will now have to cut all my peppers up b4 I pickle or can them to make sure they are mold-free.

Does anyone know why/how this happened? Is the mold deadly or is it as harmless as cheese mold? I know I wouldn't pickle a pepper with mold, don't want to get botulism, but how harmful is the pepper if eaten raw?

I only ate one like that, but I am curious as to whether this is going to be a routine problem with the rest of the harvest. Thank you in advance.

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~Angela~

Well I just went and picked a pepper off the plant, cut into it, and it had no mold! I think you are right, isolated case. The pepper I just sampled was still yellow though, perhaps I should not let them ripen on the plant too long? The orange one was low on the plant and had been there for a very long time.

The pepper plants are in a lot more shade than they used to be, as we are first time growers and the tomato plants got way more bushy than we had ever expected which is great, we just need to plan better next year. We have 8 veggie plants total, and each one is touching the plant next to it, so we surely did not leave enough space between them so they could get enough sunlight and breezes to ward off mold.

Thank you for your response, and hopefully this will not be an ongoing issue this year. As for nexy year, I have learned valuable lessons, and will change the way I do things accordingly

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~Angela~

I agree, as I have found mold inside fully ripe peppers also, and I think it has something to do with being about to the point of over ripe...which I find peppers like this most often when I am letting one fully ripen to save seed from..but as long as the seeds have no mold, they tend to be fine for seeds saving.

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