You can sure try. The fridge chill isn't cold enough to kill the seed. So long as the seed was mature enough, you should be OK to collect the seed.

Might be a good idea for you to do a germination test too right off the bat. That will let you know if the seed you have sitting and drying is worth keeping or not.

Thank you. Now, that's interesting. I'm assuming a germination test would be to put a few seeds in moist paper towels and see if they germinate? And would I wait until they'd dried?

What a great suggestion, thank you!

As long as the pepper didn't freeze, the cool temps didn't damage the seeds. Was the pepper ripe? In Lesya's case, that's a dark red color. If not, the viability of the seed may be questionable.

You could wait to germ test until next Spring. If the germination is successful, just transfer to a potting mix and your plants for next year are off and running.

Lastly, one of the biggest complaints about Lesya is it's poor productivity. One person said they grew Lipstick as well, and it was just as tasty as Lesya and very prolific. Just another option for ya.

Oh thank you for the insights and suggestions. Yes, this pepper had gotten to the fully red stage. My husband picked the first nice big one when it was green by mistake. I think we got 2 others which were cooked into dishes with Ajvarskis and Cubanelles, so I don't think I noticed it that much. This was the first on the plant that not only fully ripened, but I cut and tasted on it's own and discovered how amazing it really is. I've grown lipstick--they are definitely more prolific--but much smaller and I don't think the flavor was in the ballpark with this Lesya. All in all, the one Lesya plant I was able to get going probably have produced about 6 peppers, which is about the same as I get from traditional bells such as Ace and Nikita. I plan to try harder next year, start them earlier, and see if by using seeds from my own plant, I can do even better. They're fussy, but IMO definitely worth the trouble!

The best stockpiling temperature is somewhere in the range of 32 and 41 degrees Fahrenheit, so you would prefer not to freeze the seeds. A cool, dull and dry area works best. You can keep the container in the cooler on the off chance that you don't have a reasonably cool stockpiling place.

I've read that peppers do cross pollinate so if you had other peppers growing nearby, including hot peppers, your seeds may be a cross, not just Lesya.