After the previous post I’m continuing with translating another literary text written by early-20th century writer and columnist, Zsigmond Móricz. The original and full stories In Hungarian appeared in his prose collection called Paprika is in the air. From the writings we get to know Szeged the city and its people in the 1910s through the insights…
In this Paprika & Chili blog I have already written about representations of paprika in Hungarian literature. Now I’d like to continue with a series of literary texts written by early-20th century writer and columnist, Zsigmond Móricz. The stories appeared in his prose collection called Paprika is in the air. Móricz was non-native to Szeged, but…
Last week we started an article about processing of hot paprika in the past. This time let’s follow the topic! First the pre-dried red fruit was taken off the garland, the green stalk was removed, the pod was cut up and the seeds, the pith, the ribs, the glands that produce the capsaicin and the bad…
It is October and we are in the middle of paprika harvest and processing. Among autumn to-dos is paprika processing, which today is by no means easy and quick but a lot easier than in the past. Until the 1930s all paprika pods were naturally hot and it was local farmers in the mid-19th century…
Autumn is the busiest time of the agricultural year and it’s true for the red spice paprika varieties, too. Picking, post-harvest ageing and processing was always an arduous job and it is no different today. Harvest traditionally started on 8 September, the Day of the Blessed Virgin Mary and ended before frost set in or until…
„Discovering is seeing what everybody else has seen and thinking what nobody else has thought” said Albert Szent-Györgyi, Hungarian Nobel Prize winner in Physiology and Medicine in 1937. Albert Szent-Györgyi was born on 16 September 1893. In this post we are celebrating the life and work of this wonderful man. A charming personality, an eventful…
Szeged Lowertown has always been a separate entity within Szeged city. Its homogeneous Hungarian population followed strict Roman Catholic ethics and made a living from agriculture. Among their most famous crops were tobacco and paprika. The two most important characteristics by the end of the 19th century were their religious faith and the sweet paprika spice called…
September the 8th is one of the many Marian devotion days in the life of the Roman Catholic Church. In olden times the people of Szeged on this day devoted time and piety to the Blessed Virgin Mary. September was a busy time for a Catholic farmer, and on this day thoughts and prayers probably…
Szeged’s International Fish Soup Festival is on us. Hundreds of cauldrons will be set up and families and friends will be cooking fish soup along the River Tisza. Fish soup is an iconic dish in Hungarian kitchen today, however, its popularity today is nowhere near to what it was in the past. Before river regulation in…
As we are approaching 20 August, the summer is coming to an end. It’s harvest time and before we start spice paprika picking it is time now to harvest our most common summer vegetables: tomato and paprika. The paprika that feature in the recipes below are all vegetable paprikas, meaning the thick, juicy vegetables that…
Szeged writers have been using the paprika plant in their literary works in a number of ways. Literary representations are not about plant philosophy but serve as symbolic links with Szeged the city, its puszta (farming) areas and people. On 1 August we just celebrated the birthday of Sándor Bálint (1904-1980), the man who has…
Hungarian lecsó, stuffed pepper, pumpkin cream with dills, fried eggplant slices,butterhead lettuce dressed in sweet-and-sour sauce, and cucumber salad topped with sour cream and a pinch of red paprika powder are some of our most common summer dishes. What’s common in them besides being Hungarian summer faves? Most of them have a vegetable in them…
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