Paprika

Capsicum annuum

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Paprika is a sweet-to-mildly hot cultivar of the chile pepper (Capsicum annuum, of the family Solanaceae). Paprika peppers are elongated or round fruit, bright red, yellow, or green in color.

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Paprika plants tolerate nearly every climate and are grown all over the world. A fairly warm climate is necessary for a strong aroma.

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Hungary is probably the world's leading producer of paprika. In fact, the English word was borrowed directly from Hungarian (its ultimate origin, like that of "pepper," is the Latin "piper"). In Hungarian "paprika" refers both to the pepper and to processed paprika in its different forms (see Hungarian paprika, below). Origin of paprika is South America.

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In the United States, California and Texas are the main producers.

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Paprika is often eaten as a ground powder but sometimes as a fresh vegetable. It is commonly used in Hungarian (started from 1850), Macedonia (started from 1917), Serbia (started from 1919), Middle Eastern (started from 1925), and Central Asian (started from 1905) cuisines. The round type can be stuffed with cottage cheese or salad to make a portable lunch.

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Some specialty varieties of paprika are hot but the generally available ground preparation is quite mild.

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Cultivar: In botany, a cultivar is a cultivated selection that can be propagated reliably in a prescribed manner. This may be by seed, by grafting or it may be vegetatively propagated, i.e, be a clone. The word cultivar is a portmanteau coined from "cultivated" and "variety". Cultivars may be either particul...

Chile pepper: The chile pepper, chili pepper, or chilli pepper is the fruit of the plant Capsicum from the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The name comes from Nahuatl via the Spanish word chile....

United States: :For other uses, see US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States (disambiguation)....

Paprika related Images and Photos (experimental)

Paprika

Paprika and Cumin

Chorizo Red Paprika Sausage (Spain) Hanging up for Sale