PIMENTON – Spanish paprika
The sovereigns were struck dumb with surprise. Christopher Columbus brought paprika back to Spain with him from his second voyage to America, and introduced it to their Catholic Majesties Ferdinand and Isabella in the monastery of Guadalupe. The biting sharpness of some peppers almost took the noble pair’s breath away But that did not prevent the monks of the monastery from passing on the new vegetable to the brothers of their order, so that the peppers spread initially throughout
Extremadura and then over the entire country.
However, it was not until the l7′*‘ century that pimentón, the crushed powder from the small red spicy pepper, began its triumphal progress through Spanish cuisine. A hundred years later, the traveller Baron von Bourgoing wrote: “The Spaniards like strong spices: pepper, tomato sauce, and hot paprika powder, which adds colour and fire to many dishes.” Even now, paprika spice is wrongly referred to in many languages as “Spanish pepper.”
Today, the finest paprika powder in Spain is made in northern Extremadura, not far from the place where the first plants bloomed in the monastery garden 500 years ago. The home of the famous pimentón de La Vera is the delightful area around La Vera in northern Extremadura, the most fertile part of central Spain. The spicy peppers find ideal conditions on the low-lying alluvial soils around the Tiétar River. The climate is mild and there is adequate precipitation. Here the farmers cultivate different varieties of the paprika genus Capsicum annum, each with varying degrees of pungency.
This factor is determined by a substance known as capsaicin, which is absent in the delicate, mild peppers, just as it is in the bell peppers grown as vegetables. The farmers sow the pepper seeds in March. The harvest begins in September and lasts until November. Entire families go out into the fields, sometimes assisted by seasonal workers, to harvest the little red peppers. It is a wearisome manual task. Buildings equipped with little skylights are scattered around the edges of the fields: the drying houses.
It is not until the fresh peppers are smoke-dried that any real skill comes in. The amount of oakwood required must be five times as great as the amount of paprika powder to be obtained. No other wood can be used if the genuine pimentón de La Vera is to have its typical taste. The peppers are placed whole on a wooden grid at a height of just under 8 feet (2.5 meters). Then the fire is lit. The farmer has to go into the smoking house (secadero) once a day, to turn over the layer of peppers by hand.
It is just over 30 inches thick (80 centimetres). The drying phase lasts 13 to 15 days. Then the peppers are sent to one of the little paprika mills of the region. There the stalks are removed, together with part of the core — not all of it, of course, since the cores contain fatty acids which decisively affect the consistency of the powder.
Finally, the peppers are milled by electrically operated stone wheels. This must be clone very slowly, since friction heat could impair the pure flavour and colour. Pimentón de La Vera is marketed in several varieties — mild (dulce), medium hot (agridulce), and hot (picante). It normally keeps for two years. The precious powder is indispensable for many types of Spanish sausage such as chorizo or lomo contain paprika. Although in La Vera the peppers are smoke-dried, the traditional method in the Murcia region is to lay them out in the sunshine. But nowadays the modern companies there have hot air drying chambers, and some producers sterilize the powder with steam so that it will keep longer. Moreover, a steam solution process makes it possible to obtain dye extracts from the peppers. This resin-type dye is used in the meat and pharmaceutical industries. Paprika powder is also produced in the Balearic Islands.
Bill & Sheila’s A-Z of herbs
_____________________________________________________________________
If you require a high quality printout of this article, just click on the printer symbol next to ’Share and enjoy’, and we will do the rest. This site is hosted by (click on the graphic for more information)
Return from paprika to Home Page
If you want to increase your site popularity and gain thousands of visitors – check out these sites THEY ARE FREE. Spanishchef more than doubled its ‘New Visitors’ last month simply by signing up to these sites:
Follow spanishchef.net on TWITTER
