“We make every part with paprika — our meals, it needs to be purple,” says Péter Szabo, the proprietor and producer of Hungarian paprika firm Szabio. Paprika, which each his father and his grandfather additionally produced, is crucial in Hungarian tradition, utilized in dishes like rooster paprikash and körözött.
Szabo explains that his paprika comes from three totally different peppers: one for shade, one for style, and one for its oil stage. After the peppers are picked by hand, staff funnel 10 kilograms of peppers into massive mesh tubes that Szabo calls “salami luggage” for his or her visible resemblance. It will yield one kilogram of paprika powder. The luggage are then hung from the roof of a constructing to remedy within the solar. The entire course of requires persistence: Solely after 4 or 5 weeks can the employees kind by the peppers, manually take away their stalks, slice them, dry them, after which crush them into powder.
For Szabo, it’s a precedence to provide the “very, easiest high quality,” even when it means producing in smaller portions. “I used to be searching for these varieties of consumers who’re keen to pay for somewhat bit costly product for the great high quality,” Szabo says. In the US, his paprika may be bought by Burlap & Barrel.
Szabo sees his work as one thing he’s giving to the subsequent technology. “Only a few farmers are doing the actually good paprika powder and it truly makes me unhappy,” he says. “I really like to do that — it’s our custom, it’s our tradition.”
Watch the newest episode of Distributors to study extra about how Szabio turns peppers into flavorful paprika.
