Best pepper for paprika?

I just realized I use paprika a lot in my cooking, and I think I can squeeze in one more pot on my balcony next year. So I'd like to know what y'alls favourite pepper is to grow for paprika. I'll need one that's high yielding and container friendly. An early pepper would be ideal, but I bring in the chinese in to finish every year, so i'd be willing to sacrifice early finishing for pod production and flavour.
 
If deep red color is your main criteria, the NuMex Garnet is great. If volume is important, the alma paprika is good too. Other possibilities are the NuMex Conquistador or NuMex 'r Naky or NuMex Sweet. None of these have much, if any heat. If you want to be adventurous, you could grind up some Trinidad Scorpions and call it paprika :-)


I just realized I use paprika a lot in my cooking, and I think I can squeeze in one more pot on my balcony next year. So I'd like to know what y'alls favourite pepper is to grow for paprika. I'll need one that's high yielding and container friendly. An early pepper would be ideal, but I bring in the chinese in to finish every year, so i'd be willing to sacrifice early finishing for pod production and flavour.
 
Any mild or medium pepper can be made into paprika although traditionally Hungarian or spanish peppers were used. I`ve grown several chile types from Hungary and they all seem to be labelled as paprika on the package
 
For a sweet red paprika I use a Spanish pimento, although it thick skinned I cut it into strips before putting in the de-hydrator, for a hotter powder I've recently used the "Bulgarian Carrot" which I've half de-hydrated/ finnished in a smoker and ground to a powder.....very interesting taste...I will be adding that to my 13 pepper chili for the next local comp.
 
I am pretty sure paprika translates to "capsicum pepper", so any pepper may be referred to as such in that part of the world. Basically any sweet and/or mild/medium chile could be dehydrated/dried and ground up for paprika powder. I think the ideal/traditional paprika powder uses a sweet pepper with a hint of heat. North Americans typically prefer only the sweet paprika powder, but in Europe paprika powders have some heat. Seed Savers Exchange usually has a few different traditional paprika seeds available.

I think saying paprika pepper is comparable to saying Rio Grande river (pepper pepper vs. Great River River).
 
Hello,

in hungarian language, paprika means pepper. Not just hot pepper, but pepper in general. In hungarian, erős (or sometimes csípős) paprika means hot pepper and édes paprika means sweet pepper. The word paprika is also used for pepper powders. Powders can be had in mild or hot form(marked with the same words as peppers- édes paprika or erős paprika). Maybe only the hot powders are exported and this is the reason why Indiana Jesse thinks European powders have more heat. It is not important what pepper we use to make the powder. If it is from a pepper, Hungarians will call it paprika. :)

Best wishes!

EDIT- By the way, the word erős means strong. I think, this is a good way to describe hot peppers.......STRONG peppers..... :onfire: :lol:
 
Must be. I had a paprika powder of Hungarian origin sent over from Germany once, and it had much more heat than any paprika powder I have found here. I know if I want to find a paprika powder with any heat here, I have to find one exported from Hungary. The paprika powder just labeled "paprika" at the supermarket here is only sweet, no heat.
 
Kolacsa Paprika is the prefered paprika. Second is Svegeda(sp) Paprika. They are most likely the same pepper, but grown down the road from each other one in Kolacsa Hungary, the other in Svegeda Hungary. It is a mild sweet pepper, unlike the hot Spanish variety.

If you want to grow paprika, then grow the real thing.
 
Must be. I had a paprika powder of Hungarian origin sent over from Germany once, and it had much more heat than any paprika powder I have found here. I know if I want to find a paprika powder with any heat here, I have to find one exported from Hungary. The paprika powder just labeled "paprika" at the supermarket here is only sweet, no heat.

Ohh....I forgot to add that sometimes, the mild édes paprika is marked only as paprika and the hot powder is marked as eros paprika.


Kolacsa Paprika is the prefered paprika. Second is Svegeda(sp) Paprika. They are most likely the same pepper, but grown down the road from each other one in Kolacsa Hungary, the other in Svegeda Hungary. It is a mild sweet pepper, unlike the hot Spanish variety.

If you want to grow paprika, then grow the real thing.

You are right, the Hungarian towns Kalocsa and Szeged are famous for their paprika. Those products might be the Rolexes, Omegas or Breitlings of paprikas... :)
 
Kolacsa Paprika is the prefered paprika. Second is Svegeda(sp) Paprika. They are most likely the same pepper, but grown down the road from each other one in Kolacsa Hungary, the other in Svegeda Hungary. It is a mild sweet pepper, unlike the hot Spanish variety.

If you want to grow paprika, then grow the real thing.

do you know of any vendors that sell these varieties? I'm looking for the most authentic paprika.

I might make some Caribbean red paprika as an experiment, since I will have a ton of these in a month or 2.
 
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Hello, I use Kung Pao Peppers for my paprika. I just picked 28 yesterday and dried them today. I use the coffee grinder to turn 'em to dust.
My Kung Pao is now 1 year old. It has produced 103 peppers since 30 June 2011. I have it in a 5 gal. bucket. I think the Leutschauer was the pepper of choice back in the day.
 
Here in the Netherlands we use the name "paprika" for every sweet pepper. In the shops here you will see the sweet bell pepper as most commonly known paprika. On Holliday we discovered in Germany and Austria the name paprika for any sweet pepper as well.
 
I just realized I use paprika a lot in my cooking, and I think I can squeeze in one more pot on my balcony next year. So I'd like to know what y'alls favourite pepper is to grow for paprika. I'll need one that's high yielding and container friendly. An early pepper would be ideal, but I bring in the chinese in to finish every year, so i'd be willing to sacrifice early finishing for pod production and flavour.

Pasilla and Hungarian Boldog have done well for me in a Northern climate. They both have a sweet, rich flavor.
 
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