Paprika
The name Különleges, meaning special, is one of the highest grades of paprika.
Overview
Paprika is a spice made from the grinding of dried sweet capsicum peppers, which are similar to red bell peppers. It is a commonly used ingredient in a variety of Hungarian, Central, and Eastern European dishes. Paprika is also well-known throughout Mexico, Central, and South America where there are different versions of the spice.
Types of paprika
In Hungary, there are eight types of paprika ranging from édes (sweet) to eros (hot) as well as everything in between.
Special quality (Különleges)
Of all the varieties of Hungarian paprika, this is the richest in color. It is fiery red and has an excellent flavor and aroma. It is also one of the mildest types.
Delicate (Csípmentes csemege)
This type of paprika is made from carefully selected pods of the highest quality. Its color ranges from a light to a darker shade of crimson, depending on the vintage. It has a very fine taste and aroma but is not spicy.
Exquisite delicate (Csemege paprika)
This has the same qualities as the sweet variety except that it has a pleasant, mild, spicy flavor.
Pungent exquisite delicate (Csípos csemege, pikáns)
Similar to exquisite delicate paprika but is decisively hotter. It contains at least 25 mg of capsaicin, and is one of the most popular of the hot paprika spices.
Noble sweet (Édesnemes)
This type of Hungarian paprika is the most well-known throughout the world. It is made from pods of extremely high quality and has a mild spicy flavor. The oil content of the paprika seed milled with it brings out the bright red color. Its taste and aroma is considered the best of all paprika spices.
Semi-sweet (Félédes)
This is somewhat hotter than the varieties mentioned above, so a smaller quantity is sufficient to produce a hot, spicy flavor.
Rose (Rózsa)
This paprika is pale red in color. It is hot and has a strong aroma. It is recommended for those who like their food spicy.
Hot (Eros)
The hottest of the paprika spices that is light brownish yellow. It is particularly complementary to dishes made with mutton or game. It is for those who like a spice to be fiery hot.
The best way to select your paprika is by considering the type of color, sweetness, pungency, or heat you’d like to add to your dish.
How to cook with paprika
Paprika is a great ingredient to use in your recipes especially if you want to enhance flavor and color. Some of the most popular Hungarian dishes that have paprika include goulash soup, chicken paprikash and cabbage rolls. One of the simplest methods to use paprika is by adding into lard or oil in your cooking. Just be careful not to leave paprika for too long under high heat or you may burn it! Paprika’s high sugar content means it dissolves easily and quickly. If you would like to use paprika to add color to a prepared dish, always stir the red powder into a little hot oil, and then add this to the dish.
Nutrition
During the 1930′s, Hungarian scientist Albert Szent-Gyorgyi and his colleagues at Szeged University experimented with fresh bell peppers. In 1937, Szent-Gyorgyi was awarded the Nobel Prize for Science for discovering that paprika included Vitamin C, an antiscorbutic, which protects against scurvy. Paprika is also known to assist in normalizing blood pressure, improving circulation, and increasing the production of saliva and stomach acids as well as aiding digestion.
How to store paprika
Paprika retains its flavor for six to eight months. It should be purchased in small quantities and kept in airtight containers away from sunlight.
Related posts:
- Types of Hungarian paprika
- Paprika sauce
- Paprika-spiced cauliflower soup
- Chicken paprika (paprikás csirke)
- Fisherman’s soup from Szeged
Category: Facts & Information
I didn’t know that there is “green” paprika lol
DD
Paprika: A spicy seasoning ground from a variety of sweet red pepper (Capsicum annuum), the original source of vitamin C, isolated by the Hungarian scientist Albert Szent-Gyorgyi (1893-1986).
The story goes that Szent-Gyorgyi did not like paprika and so took his plate of paprika pods into his laboratory, not wanting to offend his wife. As he looked at the mound of peppers, he realized that he had never tested the pepper for its compounds. The results surprised him. He found that a paprika pepper contained 5-6 times more vitamin C than an orange or lemon. For the next few weeks he had turned his place into a paprika-mashing center, involving his assistants and his entire family. He extracted and filled flask after flask, each of 50-liter capacity. In one week alone, he managed to extract half a kilogram of pure vitamin C, an unthinkable quantity at the time.
Szent-Gyorgyi named it ascorbic acid (a-scorbic) because it cured scorbutic disease (scurvy). In 1937 Szent-Gyorgyi received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, in part for his isolation of vitamin C from paprika.