All About Paprika

Paprika is a dried powder made from bell peppers or chili peppers, used around widely around the world. You'll find it featured particularly in Hungarian and Spanish recipes.

Different Types of Paprika
If you've gone shopping for Paprika, only to discover more options than you've expected, you're not alone. We've listed some of the varieties you can find below:

• Paprika, the most commonly found and generically labelled type, and is a blend of sweet and hot varieties. It’s good for adding colour to your dishes or as a garnish.
• Hungarian or Sweet Paprika has a rich, fruity flavour with little heat. It's great as a general paprika, being more flavourful than the more common variety.
• Hot Paprika is made from dried chili peppers and is more like cayenne pepper, but less spicy.
• Smoked or Spanish Paprika is made from chilis dried and smoked over a fire giving the spice a flavour that is rich and smokey. Comes in both sweet and hot varieties.

Which type you use depends on what you want it for. Use regular or sweet for colour. Hot paprika for a change from cayenne and smoked paprika for a more earthy flavour.

Using Paprika
Paprika is often used as a garnish. However, many traditional preparations require warming paprika in oil and will greatly enhance the flavour it releases. Take care when doing this, as overheating the spice will cause it to turn bitter.