Thursday, April 23, 2020

Paprika

"Spices lose their flavor over time but few as quickly as paprika, which starts out tasting of pepper and sunshine but deteriorates in but a few months to sawdust and bitterness."
On my spice shelf: three types of paprika.
Sweet paprika, hot paprika, and smoked paprika from Spain offer a nice variety of flavors for meals that I've been cooking while we are in isolation at home, avoiding the pandemic. I recently ordered this trio of paprikas because I was out of sweet paprika, which we have been sprinkling on Len's home-made crackers, among other things. I use the hot or smoked varieties in chili or other dishes where I want an alternative to cayenne or other very hot peppers -- still hot, but not TOO hot. When fresh, all three of these spices have a pleasing and distinctive aroma and flavor.

Vintage paprika bottle.
In my mother's kitchen and in kitchens throughout mid-twentieth century America, a bottle or a can of paprika almost always appeared on the rather sparsely stocked spice rack (maybe with similar containers of ground pepper, cinnamon, poultry seasoning, "pickling" spice, and one or two others). We used paprika to add color to pale foods such as deviled eggs, but we believed that it had no flavor. What we didn't know was that it had once had flavor, long ago, when it was purchased, but that time had obliterated the taste.

Vintage paprika tin.
A little bit of spice goes a long way, so the contents of those tiny containers -- somewhere between half an ounce and 2 ounces -- would last for years and years. Meanwhile, the essential oils that give spice its aroma and pungency would fade away. And our deviled eggs were sprinkled with an odorless, tasteless red powder whose lost capabilities we didn't even realize.

Paprika is made from a few select varieties of capsicum peppers, which are grown and processed in Spain, Hungary, California, or Mexico. The capsicums, native to the New World, include a vast number of varieties from blow-your-head-off new strains of habanero pepper like "ghost peppers" to the mildest of bell peppers. The paprika pepper and the tomato pepper -- two strains of long, mild red peppers -- are dried, ground, and made into several flavors of paprika. 

The original location of Spain's capsicum pepper cultivation was the La Vera region of Extremadura. Farmers there began growing peppers soon after Columbus brought New World produce back to show to Ferdinand and Isabella. The region continues production of smoked paprika, according to Smithsonian Magazine --
"Pimentón de la Vera Co-op [is] a group of 17 brands and family-owned businesses creating Protected Designation of Origin-certified smoked paprika in Spain. The La Vera region of Spain, in the Cáceres province in Extremadura, is the ideal place to produce this type of paprika, thanks to its subtropical climate, salt-free water and soil with high organic matter content. Planting begins in May and June, and the ripe red peppers are harvested in September and October. Then the smoking begins." (link)
Hungarian paprika box,
from article in kitchn.com
Szeged, Hungary is another famous center of paprika production. The Hungarians began to grow and use paprika within 100 years of the European exploration of the New World, and eventually developed the strain of peppers used for Hungarian paprika. Chicken paprikash is probably the most famous and popular Hungarian dish using their signature paprika. Although just one or two flavors of Hungarian paprika are generally available in US markets, there are actually eight of them used for different dishes in Hungarian cuisine. (See this article or this article for a list of the eight flavors as well as many other facts about paprika.)

I wonder if paprika is the only spice to figure in Nobel-prize-winning research. Albert Szent-Györgyi, a Hungarian scientist, won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1937. His early research, isolating the chemical now called vitamin C, took place at Cambridge University in England and at the Rockefeller Institute in New York. In 1930, he accepted a position at the university in Szeged. Continuing his research, Szent-Györgyi used the famous local Szeged paprika as one of his sources for vitamin C. He demonstrated the specific effect in scurvy prevention of the chemical he had isolated. (linklink)

Hungarians eat around one pound per year of paprika so I imagine they buy it in somewhat larger containers than we do, and use it up before it fades into flavorless red powder. Also, maybe the higher level of consumption enables them to get actual health benefits from the vitamins in paprika, while it's doubtful that Americans -- in the fifties or even now -- would receive a useful amount of vitamin C from the decoration on their deviled eggs.

This blog post copyright © 2020 mae sander for mae food dot blog spot dot com.
Antique spice box images are from auction sites on the web.


18 comments:

  1. Smoked paprika is my favourite!

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  2. I can so relate to the thinking that paprika has no flavor and was only used as color on deviled eggs and potato salad. I am very guilty of having cans in my pantry. Although more expensive, I need to resort to buying the small packs from World Market.

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  3. I love this post and I had to laugh at the reminder of deviled eggs with paprika for color (my mom did that too -- and I even do!) You're right -- it doesn't last all that long so instead of adding a little, usually a lot gets thrown in!

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  4. Like chili, I cannot do without paprika in my kitchen - its an essential in my Kitchen Aid box (like a first aid box) but for home cooks. It wasn't always this way, i came to love it after having a vegetarian Hungarian Goulash and its been one of the spices in my kitchen since. And I always adore the tins it comes in. I actually used some today for a vegan 'chorizo' flavoured dip!

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  5. Smoked paprika is my favourite too, I love it on fish.

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  6. Oh we don;t usually use Paprika for native Filipino dishes but we do use it from time to time in place of annatto seeds that we use for extra color. Now I learned so much more than what I little know about Paprika, Thanks Mae!

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  7. Those old spice containers do remind me of the spices my mom had. Not that ever used many of them. I don't like spicy things, she'd say, and then load very thing with so much black pepper. Smile. I've never made chicken paprikash and I think I should try it. I enjoyed reading your post today. hugs-Erika

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  8. I use a lot of paprika bit not nearly enough to retain the flavour profile. Then I use it to colour chicken skin. I like the cracker idea. Thanks for the informative post.

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  9. "LOL". That explains a lot!
    And I always wonder, too, why you can´t get small portions.
    It´s just Hubby and me here. How are we supposed to use up a family portion before the flavor is gone.
    Same goes with cheese and all. What do singles even do?!
    And yes. The downside would be more waste even, I know that.
    Overpriced shops where they unwrap in the morning to pretend it´s all eco - no, all in plastic! - and you can get in your choice of amount in your own containers is a hoax.
    Way too expensive. Freeze everything?! My Mum did that, the costs for the freezer...
    Grow your own?
    Rucola, I have atm, as it´s still too cold outside for others, but we only have a small balcony.

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  10. Mae,
    Thank you for all the information on spices-
    I do not use paprika very often and probably keep it way past its usable time. It makes sense about the oils in it.. Time to purchase a new one. Incidentally, I do remember using the McCormick vintage tin as a child.!!

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  11. I don't use a lot of paprika (mostly smoked), but I do know to buy it in very small quantities!

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  12. I love paprika and tend to go through it fairly quickly. Your post made me smile because I was just talking about paprika with a coworker who lamented that her mother cleaned their pantry and threw away her favorite smoked paprika, leaving the sweet because "they already had one and aren't they the same thing?" I would have been so unhappy! ;-)

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  13. Thanks Mae for sharing the back story about paprika. I learned a lot. I like the taste of regular paprika more than smoked. I especially like it in potato salad and added to salad dressings. Be well and stay safe.

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  14. It frustrates me how spices lose their oomph - I have tried buying from Asian grocery stores but they don't really do paprika - turmeric is good that way. Stay safe. Cheers

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  15. We just bought new paprika today because our plan for dinner tonight is a nice Hungarian Goulash! I did find your post very interesting.

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  16. I have two varieties in the kitchen and just two nights ago I think I used waaaaay too much smoked paprika. It was good, roasted chicken quarters, but a bit much spice.
    Very informative post.

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  17. Interesting! I'm trying to acquire a taste for smoked paprika, which I bought a long time ago for a Splendid Kitchen recipe. Now it's probably time for a new jar! I do use sweet paprika in recipes fairly often, maybe because I do a fair amount of vegetarian cooking.

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  18. now this is funny - what a co-incidence to read this article after just chucking out some very very old smoked paprika! lord knows how old it was. during the crisis, i have been doing crazy nesting type things - sorting, chucking, decanting etc. like a lot of people i think.

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