It can be inferred from the passage that tomatoes were first used in North America for food as decoration in place of peppers for nutritional purposes.
The phrase "mild and pungent types" in line 26 refers to size taste botanical classification color. All of the following can be inferred from the passage about peppers EXCEPT peppers became popular in the United States later than in Europe peppers were bought and sold in Europe red peppers are highly spiced peppers originated fairly recently in North and South America.