The term “bell pepper” is the American name for some fruits of the Capsicum Annuum species of plants. Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in different colors, including red, yellow, green and orange. Bell peppers are sometimes grouped with less pungent pepper varieties as “sweet peppers”. Peppers are native to Mexico, Central America and northern South America. Pepper seeds were later carried to Spain in 1493 and from there spread to other European and Asian countries. Today, Mexico remains one of the major pepper producers in the world.
Bell peppers are botanically fruits, but are generally considered in culinary contexts to be vegetables.