Ground paprika – sweet or hot – is Europe’s best-known chilli spice. The three most famous have EU Protected Designations of Origin: Hungary’s Szeged and Kalocsa paprika and Spain’s smoked pimentón de la Vera.
Szeged paprika
| Protection | PDO “Szegedi fűszerpaprika-őrlemény / Szegedi paprika”, Commission Regulation (EU) No 986/2010 |
|---|---|
| Species | Capsicum annuum var. longum, 19 permitted varieties |
| Area | the Szeged region (Csongrád county and part of Békés county) |
| Heat | base product sweet (capsaicin up to 100 mg/kg); 100–200 mg/kg “moderately hot”, above 200 mg/kg “hot” |
| Colour and taste | vivid fiery red to brighter red; flavour “reminiscent of ripe and baked butternut squash” |
According to the specification, the pods are post-ripened for about two weeks, raising pigment content by 30–50%, then washed, sliced and dried (traditionally in small sacks under the eaves, today in dryers) from about 80% water to under 10%. They are ground between horizontal millstones; the warmth releases seed oil that coats the particles and evens the colour. Finally the powder is “conditioned” with a little water to 8–11% moisture. The first written record linking paprika with Szeged dates from 1748. It was in Szeged, in the early 1930s, that Albert Szent-Györgyi discovered paprika to be a rich source of vitamin C (more in History of chilli).
Kalocsa paprika
| Protection | PDO “Kalocsai fűszerpaprika-őrlemény”, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 588/2012 |
|---|---|
| Species | Capsicum annuum var. longum, 17 permitted varieties |
| Area | over 180 settlements, mainly in Bács-Kiskun, Tolna and Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok counties |
| Heat | capsaicin 30–200 mg/kg “moderately hot”, 200–500 “spicy”, above 500 “hot” |
| Colour and taste | “deep silky red”, sweet and fruity, aroma “similar to caramelised roasted seeds” |
The pods post-ripen for 10–40 days in crates, sacks or strung in garlands, are dried gently and ground including their natural share of seeds, with the paprika kept below 80 °C. Kalocsa’s first paprika drying plant opened in 1880, and a paprika experimental station was founded there in 1917, where the “noble” (nemes) and non-pungent varieties were bred.
Hungarian labels: édesnemes, csemege, erős…
The PDO specifications classify paprika only by capsaicin content. The Hungarian Food Codex (guideline MÉ 2-108) protects the label különleges (special – at least ASTA 120, no additives) and labels heat by capsaicinoid content: édes/csípősmentes (sweet) below 30 mg/kg, enyhén csípős (mildly hot) 30–200, csípős (hot) 200–500 and nagyon csípős (very hot) above 500 mg/kg. Traditional trade names such as édesnemes (noble sweet, the most common), csemege (delicate), rózsa or erős (strong, hot) are not defined by any binding standard today, and descriptions differ between sources.
Pimentón de la Vera
| Protection | PDO “Pimentón de la Vera”, Commission Regulation (EC) No 982/2007 |
|---|---|
| Varieties | the Ocales group (Jaranda, Jariza, Jeromín) and Bola |
| Area | northern Cáceres province, Extremadura, Spain (La Vera and neighbouring valleys) |
| Types | dulce (sweet), agridulce (bittersweet), picante (hot) |
Spanish pimentón differs from Hungarian paprika mainly in the drying: the pods are smoke-dried over oak wood for 10–15 days and ground on emery stones, which gives the typical smoky flavour. The first records of cultivation date from the 16th century, from the Hieronymite monks of the Monastery of Yuste.
Related
Piment d’Espelette · Cayenne · Drying chillies · History of chilli
Sources
- Commission Regulation (EU) No 986/2010: EUR-Lex; specification summary: OJ C 44, 20 Feb 2010
- Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 588/2012: EUR-Lex; specification summary: OJ C 303, 14 Oct 2011
- Magyar Élelmiszerkönyv, guideline MÉ 2-108
- Michelin Guide (2023): Paprika in Hungarian cuisine
- Commission Regulation (EC) No 982/2007: EUR-Lex; specification summary: OJ C 287, 24 Nov 2006
- Science History Institute: Albert Szent-Györgyi