Purple Beauty

Purple Beauty is a sweet bell pepper grown mainly for its dark purple immature stage. Pods develop from green to deep purple, and if left longer will ripen red.

Fruit size is commonly listed around 7.5–10 cm long and 6.5–7.5 cm wide, borne pendant on the plant. Plants are usually about 45.5–61 cm tall.

Harvest timing is often described as about 60 days to purple stage harvest and about 70–80 days to fully red ripe fruit.

Seed Savers Exchange describes it as a sweet, crisp bell that holds in the purple stage before turning red, which aligns with its common use in fresh salads for colour contrast.

Some sources claim it was bred at the USDA and introduced in 1963. However, the same 1963 USDA wording is widely attached to other peppers, and clear primary USDA release documentation specifically naming Purple Beauty is not consistently shown. Seed Savers Exchange Yearbooks list Purple Beauty in the early 1990s, providing a documented paper trail for the name in circulation, even if the variety may have existed earlier.