A banana pepper is much like it sounds: a pepper that is shaped like a banana. No, it doesn’t taste like a banana. Instead, it is a type of chili pepper that has a very mild, tangy taste. Since this belongs firmly in the plant category, feel free to chow down on these peppers if you get the urge to do so.
Banana Peppers and Paleo Autoimmune Protocol
Like all peppers, though, the banana pepper is a member of the nightshade family. While a Paleo lifestyle does not prohibit the consumption of nightshades, they do cause problems for some people. If you know that you cannot easily tolerate nightshades, you will also want to stay away from banana peppers. Those who don’t know if nightshades are problematic for them sometimes choose to exclude them from their diet for a time and then reintroduce them to see their effect. If you decide to conduct this sort of self-experimentation, you will also want to avoid banana peppers for at least as long as your experiment lasts.
If you can tolerate nightshades, Mark Sisson has an entire post on the benefits of eating a variety of peppers.
