Both Jalapenos and bananas or any pepper will ripen when left on the vine. Usually both jalapenos and bananas are used in the green stage. If that is the way you want, pick them before they turn red. After ripening if left on the vine, they will, if bugs leave them alone, dry up or rot eventually.

Thanks. What is the taste difference between a green jalapeno and red-ripened one? I have always picked them green and use them all immediately. There are over a dozen that I would normally pick now and use right away, but not "feeling it" in the kitchen these days - going through some sort of slumpy [lazy?] phase.

I usually pick jalapeno peppers when they cork somewhat. I have left some on the plant and , as farmerdill says, they turn red. I did have one small one hidden under a thatch of leaves and when I saw the pepper it looked like a dried one you buy at the market.

Red is a little sweeter and maybe hotter. They're really good when they're red. Why not leave some on just as an experiment to see if you like them? I've never had a ripe banana pepper, but why not try that too?

"What is the taste difference between a green jalapeno and red-ripened one?"

Red ones will be sweeter with a slightly different flavor but they'll still have about the same heat level as a green jalapeno.

Rodney

Since there appears to be no harm in fruit quality, I'll leave them on the plant for now. Mostly out of my "bah humbug funkiness" where I'm just not in the mood to do anything in the kitchen these days, not because I'm necessarily curious about deliberately ripening hot peppers.

I prefer my jalapenos ripe red, and I grow a lot of them. I think the flavor is improved immensely over when they are still green - though I will harvest and eat all the green ones at the end of season just before frost. Plus, if you want to make anything like chipotle, it is best done with ripe jalapenos. The great flavor just hasn't developed in green ones, in my opinion.

Ripening on the plant is for sure a preference.. some peppers I like to pick fully ripe, others at the.. hmmm, juvenile stage? Not sure what that green fully sized but not turned to full ripe color is called.

And I for sure understand the "don't feel it in the kitchen" action. I professionally cook most of the week, and don't always feel up to doing canning at the end of the day, lol.

I've left peppers on the plant before.. what's the worst that can happen, the pepper gets extra ripe and turns color? So what. Every pepper from juvenile to full on ripe has it's own characteristics, and all of them are good IMO. Honestly, with some peppers, it's harder to wait till fully ripe, hehehe.

Something I really love is a product called "green bags". It's a produce bag that's meant to help extend shelf life of produce. And they really do work well. I've often picked a couple peppers at a time as they are good, or beans, or other produce... and kept the bag in the crisper drawer of the fridge for days till I either have enough of whatever, or the gumption to face the pickling.. and the first pick 3-5 days ago is just as good as todays pick.

For example, yesterday I picked eight wax and banana peppers- not really enough to bother pickling up. But I have another dozen or more peppers that are almost ready over the course of the next 5 days or so. Which would make a small batch of canning. So I tossed the peppers into a green bag, and into the crisper.. and those will hold till I get the rest picked for pickling.