Not to be outdone by the green beans, my green peppers speedily ripened and by this weekend were asking to be picked.

I obliged, and yesterday plucked three of them from their small bushes. They were perfectly shaped and bright green—sure to win a top prize at any county fair. And their crunch and tangy taste put those grocery-store green peppers to shame. This was the real thing.

I’m not going to delude myself, though, that a toddler would share my green pepper appreciation. So—since my aim is to foster my 20-month twins’ veggie enjoyment—I had to come up with a way to sugarcoat them. And that’s pretty much what I did, with a few improvisations and variations.

I peered into a kitchen cabinet and grabbed the following:

•Brown sugar.

•Corn syrup

•Apple cider vinegar

•Sea salt

I mixed all four of these together in a bowl, adding in some organic apple juice for further dilution and sweetening. Then I cut up the green peppers and immersed the pieces in my mixture.

I let them soak for a few hours, then transferred them to a new bowl, added some water, and microwaved them. I had to admit the smell was a little strange, which my husband didn’t hesitate to note. “Stinky, stinky, pew pew pew,” he said.

Unwavering in my mission, I carried the plate of sweet green peppers into the living room, where the twins were playing. I sat on the sofa and happily chewed on the peppers ( I’ve learned that if you really want the twins to eat something, this is the way to spark their interest—forget giving it to them in their high chairs.) And sure enough, they soon toddled over and climbed on the sofa to sample the peppers.

The verdict? Trevor loved them and kept asking for more. Duncan ate a few, though wasn’t overly enthused. Interestingly, it was their father who really couldn’t tolerate the peppers. He banished them to the kitchen because the smell was too much for him.

Oh well… once I get him to try them as pickle relish, I think he’ll change his mind.