You Don’t Need Fancy Tools To Clean Peppers

By Sam Bithoney   –   Skillet

Peppers, of any variety, are a pain in the ass. Irregularly shaped, filled with bitter ribs and somewhere between 12 and 850,000 tiny seeds that make their way into the darker recesses of your kitchen, hoping to be found one day by anthropologists who proclaim “They were just like us!”

Mankind has come up with some interesting solutions for this problem, but it doesn’t apply universally—most of these tools are focused on Bell and Jalapeño varieties. There’s an easier way, and all you need is a thin, sharp knife.

Start by cutting off the top and bottom of the pepper, which will provide you a level surface on your cutting board. After that, peer into the pepper. You’ll be able to see the entire structure with ease, and from there just follow the inner walls with your knife, cutting opposing sides each time to maintain stability.

You’ll have uniform slices, perfect for cutting into matchsticks and dicing without those weird curly ends, as well as a rectangular prism filled with seeds that fits perfectly in the trash.