People only just realising what paprika actually is
Topics: Food and Drink, Social Media
Britt Jones
Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Images
Topics: Food and Drink, Social Media
There’s something about your spice rack that you don’t know, and it’s pretty interesting when you realise the origin of paprika.
As the base of most yummy spice mixes, paprika comes in either its original form, sweet form, or the even better smoky version.
While you might just think it’s a red-ish powder that adds depth to your sweet potato wedges, there’s a lot more to it.
You can’t be blamed for assuming that all of your spices came from a leaf or seed, but you can be blamed for not knowing which came from something else.
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Think about garlic powder, that’s a garlic clove just dried and powered, right?
Onion powder is a dried onion…
Chili powder is made from…chili.
Paprika is….
Come one, help me out here.
Paprika is full of nutrients, and it can even help reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease.
Apparently, it also promotes healthy vision, reduces inflammation, and so much more.
It’s got vitamin A, capsaicin, and carotenoid antioxidants, and it’s a pretty colour too.
As a staple for many cultures, you’d be surprised that it’s included in dishes with its OG counterpart.
Think, fajitas.
But since there’s no just thing as a paprika seed or tree, you’ve got to dive deep into what you think it could be.
It’s red pepper.
Basically, to create a powder from the vegetable, the red peppers are dried until they’ve got no more moisture left inside of them and then they are ground down into the spice.
Depending on what you like, you could have a paprika that has chili in it too, or smoked additives to give it a different flavour.
Even though it’s pretty easy to understand how a pepper could become paprika, the internet has been left stumped.
Apparently, they really thought that 'paprika trees were a thing' and have only just had their bubble’s burst online.
One said: "Learning that Paprika is just dried and crushed red bell peppers was really shocking.
Another added: "Like I dunno why I thought there was a paprika tree somewhere."
There were those who were stumped by people’s inability to know this bit of ‘common knowledge’.
But it’s not just paprika that had people confused.
Someone shared: "You’re not as bad as me who didn’t realise guacamole is just avocados. I always thought it tasted familiar. SMH."
I mean, does nobody check the back of packets and read ingredients?