How To Slice a Pepper

Because I live with someone who eats raw peppers with his lunch everyday (such a healthy eater!), and as someone who cannot stand kitchen mess, I was determined to successfully slice a pepper without every.last.seed littering my kitchen floor.   

You know what happens...it starts off very innocently until somehow there are tiny white seeds covering your countertops and floors.  Even when you think you've found them all, more appear.  Am I alone here?  Can someone please point to me an anti-kitchen-mess-anonymous group?  I'll volunteer to be the leader.  I digress...anyway, here comes 8 photos about 1 pepper.  Don't say I didn't warn you...

Tools you will need:

1. A chef's or santoku knife (I do not think you'll need a paring knife.  And anyway, using two knives to cut one pepper seems a little dramatic, no?  But then again, some may say posting 8 photos of 1 pepper seems a little dramatic.  To each her own...)

2. A cutting board

Here are my tips for the cleanest and tidiest pepper slicing, (maybe) ever. 

1. Wash and dry your pepper and place it on a clean cutting board, then prepare a sharp chef's or santoku knife.

2. Position the knife just below the very top of the pepper.  You want to feel the stem when you slice down.  This is key as to not expose those dreaded seeds.  Go on, slice down. 

 

3.  Once you have sliced through the pepper, yours should look similar to this.  You will still see some of the green stem remaining.  That is just fine. 

4. With the tip of your knife, follow the edges of the core and slide your knife around it.  It is helpful to have a slightly longer knife here, so that you can get the lower edges.  

5. When the core is successfully removed, you should be left with something resembling this:

6. If there are some seeds inside the pepper (as in like 5, not 500) you may wish to hold the bottom of the pepper over the sink, cut side down.  A few good taps will remove any last seeds.  If bits of pith remain (pith is the white, bitter part next to the flesh), just run your knife under it.  It should be easy to remove.   After you have removed all of the pith, cut the pepper right down the center.

 7.  Once you have two pieces, begin to cut strips of pepper as thin or as thick as you like. 

 8.  Here is the final product.  I left the pepper garbage on the top right so that you can see how tidy this process is.   

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.  What's your favorite color pepper? Are there other knife techniques you would be interested in learning about?  I'd love to hear from you!

xx,
The Future Mrs. Wolf