STD. The sperm had to get in to fertilize those seeds. That pepper is not a hermetically sealed capsule.

Reminds me of when I was a kid and an adult told me an egg is a perfect food because it's sterile inside until you break the shell. In my head I was thinking "do you know where that egg was before that shell formed? Why would you think the inside of a chicken reproductive tract was sterile?"

I mean, it's gotta be pretty sterile, right? Clearly it's a good environment for things to grow in, and they usually don't.

For sure!

This proves, once and for all, that spontaneous generation is real and happening all around us.

Peppers don't taste good anyway.

I like when there are whole little peppers inside the big peppers.

I like when they have ground meat and cheese.

damn congenital moldiness... cold world

9: cold? I would have chosen "wet"

How did the spores get in?

Through the magic of compound interest.

I remember a friend told me that the way that worms get inside mango seeds is via eggs being deposited by flies in the flowers.

Interesting! Something similar with spores could account for it.

OP: I too have always wondered this.

12: that's kind of freaky.