As today is National herbs and spices day, here are 10 things you might not know about paprika.
Paprika is made by grinding the pods of the pepper plant capsicum annuum, a species which includes both sweet peppers and spicier ones. Hence there are many varieties of paprika. Potatoes, Tomatoes, and Aubergine (eggplant) are its distant cousins.
The first recorded use of the word paprika in English dates back to 1830, in The Times. "A' borsos levecskét – the pepper soup, or paprika soup, made of the capsicum annuum of Linne ... a favourite dish among the Magyars, Turks, and Servians".
In 1937, the Hungarian chemist Albert Szent-György won the Nobel Prize for research on the vitamin content of paprika. There is more Vitamin C in paprika than in an equivalent amount of citrus fruit.
It’s also rich in antioxidants, so has been used in the manufacture of medicines and cosmetics.
A nitrogen compound called capsaicin gives paprika its pungency, while carotenoid, an antioxidant, gives it the rich Red colour.
The plants from which paprika is made are native to South America and were likely brought back to Europe by Christopher Columbus. The spice became popular in Spain and Portugal and then spread with Spanish and Portuguese explorers to the Balkans and even to India, Asia and the Middle East.
It is the national spice of Hungary, which has a paprika museum in the town of Kaloscsa.
It is an essential ingredient for the Hungarian dish, goulash, as well as being used to make edible oils, meat products, and Cheese.
Smoked paprika is a thing, prepared by smoking peppers over an oak fire rather than simply drying them. In Spain, smoked paprika is called pimenton.
The rose paprika of Hungary, made from pods with a sweet flavour and aroma, is generally considered to be the finest variety. Another of Hungary’s eight different varieties is Koenigspaprika (king’s paprika), and is made from the whole pepper, not just the pods.
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