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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,

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Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff Lauren Vogel Bomb here. For some people,

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Speaker 1: their only experience with paprika is a half hearted sprinkle

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Speaker 1: of bland, reddish powder on top of deviled eggs or

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Speaker 1: potato salad. Others are familiar with it from classic Hungarian

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Speaker 1: dishes like chicken peppercosh or gulash. But have you ever

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Speaker 1: wondered what paprika is and where it comes from? Paprika,

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Speaker 1: which is a Hungarian word for pepper, comes from capsicum

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Speaker 1: and um varieties of red peppers, related to bell peppers

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Speaker 1: and chili peppers. They grow long and bright red, with

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Speaker 1: flavors ranging from bitter to sweet to hot and fruity

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Speaker 1: and vegetab flavors too. The peppers are harvested, dried, and

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Speaker 1: ground into a fine powder that's paprika. In making smoked paprika,

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Speaker 1: the peppers are dried over a wood fire, adding to

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Speaker 1: their flavor. Using paprika in cooking is prevalent throughout Central Europe, Spain,

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Speaker 1: and Portugal, but it's wildly popular in Hungary, where it's

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Speaker 1: known as the national spice. There's even a paprika museum

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Speaker 1: there and it's not unusual to find some twenty varieties

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Speaker 1: in grocery stores, ranging from bitter sweet, too very sweet, mild,

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Speaker 1: too extra hot, and fine ground to course. There are

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Speaker 1: eight different grades in all. But why is Hungry so

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Speaker 1: well known for paprika? Interestingly, paprika peppers weren't introduced to

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Speaker 1: the region until after Christopher Columbus returned from the Americas.

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Speaker 1: The peppers were native to Central America and made their

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Speaker 1: way to Hungary through the Balkans. Over the years, the

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Speaker 1: peppers took root in southern Hungary, where the region's cool

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Speaker 1: climate helped the peppers retain their natural sweetness. Because the

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Speaker 1: plants were so abundant, the spice became inexpensive to produce,

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Speaker 1: and unlike imported spices like black peppercorns, pretty much everyone

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Speaker 1: could afford it. Spanish paprika, called pimenton, comes in three

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Speaker 1: basic varieties sweet, butter, sweet, or hot, and they're so

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Speaker 1: often smoked that the packing doesn't always mention it. It's

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Speaker 1: a key ingredient in charizo and in dishes like paia

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Speaker 1: and romesco sauce. Just because paprika is the same rich

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Speaker 1: color as chili powder doesn't mean you can use the

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Speaker 1: seasons interchangeably, though in many cases the seasoning that's labeled

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Speaker 1: chili powder is a blend of spices, including garlic powder,

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Speaker 1: human black pepper, and various powdered chilies. The chili's heat

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Speaker 1: or sweetness could be very different from the paprika called

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Speaker 1: for by your recipe, So when a recipe calls for paprika,

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Speaker 1: it's best to use actual paprika. You want to buy

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Speaker 1: your paprika from a place that has a good turnover

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Speaker 1: in spices, Otherwise you don't know how long it's been

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Speaker 1: sitting there. For the article, this episode is based on

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Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Spoke with Nancy Waldeck, chef, cookbook author

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Speaker 1: and food educator. She said the red and red orange

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Speaker 1: ground spices have a lot of natural oil in them.

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Speaker 1: They will go bad quicker than other spices. It's best

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Speaker 1: to keep paprika in a dark jar in a cool

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Speaker 1: place and not near the stove. Heat isn't good for

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Speaker 1: it either. If it doesn't smell good and it's brown

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Speaker 1: when you open it, it's dust. It's no longer paprika.

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Speaker 1: The good thing about paprika is that's inexpensive and easy

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Speaker 1: to replace, and just don't buy a ginormous package, and

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Speaker 1: this is a case where buying smaller is better. Today's

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Speaker 1: episode is based on the article Paprika is Way more

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Speaker 1: Than just Deviled egg dust on how stuff works dot com,

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Speaker 1: written by Patty Resmussen. To learn more about Paprika, check

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Speaker 1: out the episode we did on one of my other podcasts, Saver.

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Speaker 1: So we published an episode about it called a Peppering

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Speaker 1: of Paprika in March of nineteen. Brain Stuff is production

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Speaker 1: of by Heart Radio in partnership with howstuff works dot Com,

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Speaker 1: and it's produced by Tyler Clang. For more podcasts my

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Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or

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Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.