Photo by the author Vladimir Grishchenko on Unsplash
Paprika is used in all cuisines, which is why it is such a must-have spice in the kitchen. This recently caused a bit of a stir on social media, with many people shocked and even disappointed by how the pepper is produced.
Nutra Organic, an Australian Instagram influencer, decided to do a little research and left this comment: “Finding out that paprika is just dried and ground red peppers was really shocking. I don't know why I thought there was a paprika tree somewhere.”
Many people had a similar thought – do you mean there is no paprika? Unfortunately no.
Red capsicum is a sweet and mild pepper. It is dried, crushed and ground to produce paprika.
The confusion about the origin of the spice stems from the fact that many people thought it was a separate plant. Instead, it is simply derived from peppers.
To make paprika bright red, the pepper is harvested when it turns red. This is what allows you to achieve maximum taste and sweetness.
In most cases, capsicums are air dried or placed in a machine to dehydrate. Once sufficiently dry, it is ground into a fine powder. This means people can make their own peppers if they want.
It's probably easier to store in the store, and you might want to have it on hand at all times, whether for use in a spice blend, as part of a stew or marinade, or even for sprinkling on a dish as part of a garnish.
