Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Images
Topics: Food and Drink, Health, Social Media
Gerrard Kaonga
You could be the best home cook in the world but you'll need to admit that you don't know EVERYTHING about the food you are making.
People on social media came to this very crushing realization as they questioned what they thought they knew about paprika.
Knowing your way around the kitchen isn't exactly about knowing the history of the food or where it's sourced from as long as you can create a brilliant meal at the end of the day.
But with that said, do you know what paprika is made of? It's a great addition to most meals and can add some delectable flavors, but how much do you really know about it?
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Well, it's loaded with nutrients such as vitamin A, capsaicin, and carotenoid antioxidants.
What's not to love?
A lot of folks use paprika to take their cooking to the next level, so you'd think they would have an idea of what it's made of.
You might be aware many spices and herbs are named after the plant from which they hail, with cumin powder made from dried cumin seeds, for example.
But there's no such thing as a paprika seed, nor a root or even a tree.
If we want to get into the nitty gritty of all this, the name ‘paprika’ stems from the ingredient it’s made from: pepper – or sweet red peppers, to be precise.
But with all this, a lot of confusion has come about online, as many believed paprika came from a plant.
Essentially, red peppers are dried within an inch of their life and then ground down into a spice - subsequently creating paprika.
An Instagram post by Australian food company Nutraorganics detailed this, as they penned: "Learning that Paprika is just dried and crushed red bell peppers was really shocking.
"I don't know why I thought there was a Paprika tree somewhere."
Many have since flocked to social media in shock after finding out what paprika is made from.
"Learning that Paprika is just dried and crushed red bell peppers was really shocking," one person said.
Another added: "Like I dunno why I thought there was a Paprika tree somewhere."
On the other side of the spectrum, some social media users were left baffled that people had only just realized this as they believed it was ‘common knowledge’.