I think we’ve all been guilty of neglecting seasoning every now again, though we wouldn’t like to admit it.
And really, these incredible flavours should take a lot more credit, particularly the pretty and punchy paprika, which is quite frankly delicious.
On top of its amazing taste, paprika is incredibly healthy, too.
It’s loaded with nutrients, can help reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease, promotes healthy vision, reduces inflammation, improves immunity and can even help with those gassy problems.
Paprika is also loaded with vitamin A, capsaicin, and carotenoid antioxidants.
What’s not to love?
A lot of folks use paprika to take their cooking to the next level, so you’d think they would have an idea of what it’s made of.
You might be aware many spices and herbs are named after the plant from which they hail, with cumin powder made from dried cumin seeds, for example.
There’s no such thing as a paprika seed though, nor a root or even a tree.
If we want to get into the nitty gritty of all this, the name ‘paprika’ stems from the ingredient it’s made from: pepper – or sweet red peppers, to be precise.
But with all this, a lot of confusion has come about online, as many believed paprika came from a plant.
Essentially, red peppers are dried within an inch of their life and then ground down into a spice – subsequently creating paprika.
An Instagram post by Australian food company Nutraorganics detailed this, as they penned: “Learning that Paprika is just dried and crushed red bell peppers was really shocking. I don’t know why I thought there was a Paprika tree somewhere.”
Many have since flocked to social media in shock after finding out what paprika is made from.
“Learning that Paprika is just dried and crushed red bell peppers was really shocking,” one person said.
Another added: “Like I dunno why I thought there was a Paprika tree somewhere.”
On the other side of the spectrum, some social media users were left baffled that people had only just realized this as they believed it was ‘common knowledge’.
