An Ace of a Pepper

No need to pick a peck of peppers — pickled or otherwise. British scientists have developed a version of the vegetable (well, technically it's a fruit) that has your entire recommended daily allowance of vitamin C, plus doses of vitamins A and E.

Hence its name, the ACE pepper.

The pepped-up pepper is redder than your garden variety red zinger, and it tastes extra sweet. For the record, a regular red pepper contains about 35 percent of your RDA of 60 mg of vitamin C, and an orange contains about 80 percent.

The new nightshade isn't the only one with vitamins A and C, but it is the first one with vitamin E. It contains half your RDA of A and E.

Of course dietitians are quick to put a stop to any ideas of the one-pepper-and-then-eat-whatever-you-want diet.

Sue Baic of the British Dietetic Association told the U.K.'s Daily Mail: "People should be aware you need to eat a range of fruit and vegetables in order to have a healthy diet."

Thanks for the pep talk ...

Photo courtesy of Stephen Ausmus, via Commons Wikimedia.