Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Paprika

I seem to be obsessed with this spice. I don't know why. It's probably the name. “Paprika” is almost as epic as “skiing” or “vacuum.”

I just tasted plain paprika and I think Blue's Clues got it right. It tastes like a mixture of salt and pepper with a smidgen of sugar and that really hot spice that starts with a c and I've never managed to spell. Cayenne. Right. There, I spelled it.

Paprika is made from the grinding of dried fruits of Capsicum annumn. Capisicum annumn is a domesticated species of the plant genus Capsicum native to southern North America and northern South America. The three species C. annuum, C. frutescens and C. chinese all evolved from a single common ancestor located somewhere in the northwest Brazil - Columia area. This species is the most common and extensively cultivated of the five domesticated capiscums (Wiki).

A.k.a, the pepper.

Wait a second. -rereads the article- Peppers are a fruit?! I had totally not connected with that before. I mean, tomatoes, sure. Everyone knows tomatoes are a fruit, but I don't see peppers as fruit; they're so... vegetable. We eat them with meat, onions, mushrooms, alone, salads, etc. etc. etc. but as fruit? They get crushed into spices like cayenne and paprika, and you don't often see many fruits turned into spices other than lemon and various citrus jests... 

Peppers grow best in warm and dry climates, but they can survive almost anywhere. Their color ranges from from red to purple on the color scheme, but I have yet to see a blue colored pepper. All the other colors, I've eaten. The purple once aren't so great. Apparently, what makes chili peppers hot is this chemical capsaicin that causes a burning sensation in your mouth; a sensation responsible for the my-mouth-is-on-fire reaction!

Paprika. Peppers. They're my favorite spice and fruit right now.

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