Another year has passed, most paprikas have been harvested and collected and the first round of milling is done. Freshly milled paprika is ready!
From planting to processing
This year’s paprikas have seen it all: It all started with a chilly and rainy May. Because in the planting time there were many heavy rainfalls several farmers needed to re-plant their baby seedlings. Therefore the young plants started growing with two weeks delay.
Then, towards the end of June, we experienced another fall back: waking up in cold, foggy weather which on many paprika fields resulted in scattered flowers and crop failures.
During Summer the rainfall was average. The regular welcoming showers and a hot August made the paprikas ripen. Mid September, the farmers started picking, although they could have waited some 1-2 weeks, as the early harvested was still orange and light red.
The when and how of picking has always been a source of conflict between the farmer and the processor: the processor wants the farmer to keep the crop on the plant as long as possible so that the on-plant ripening process is lasting to the very end providing full red paprikas. But the farmer prefers having an early picking round of the largest paprikas which allows time to plan a second round of picking. The farmer always fights against time: he is worried about St. Michael, about weight loss, about the rain, that he cannot sell the paprikas at the right price, or that he can not get enough pickers, all of these of course a real worries.
At the first harvest much of the crop has been picked, the second pick in October therefore gave a slightly less amount, although here and there are still some paprikas to be harvested.
About the quality of the 2019 vintage we can say that the paprikas are tastier and more fragrant than last year, however the red pigment levels are lower, which is partly due to premature picking and the weather conditions. We hope the color will last well. In any case, we advise to contain the grind in a well-closed box or bag and store it in a dark, cool place (if you dont have a storage you can put it in the fridge).
With most of the processing done we are ready again to offer our freshly milled paprika products. Our paprika spice is also available in a beautiful gift box, in which we also added a photo from our museum archive.
Paprika gift box with an archive photo
Our products from freshly milled paprika
Additionally to that, we are offering again special taste condiments and seasonings, salted or salt-free (this is a concentrate: by mixing 1kg of concentrate with max. 2kg of salt you can make 3kg salted taste condiment). We are also introducing a few new products. Such as paprika seed oil. Both in a sweet and a hot variant, only a few drops are enough to mix in a soup, a stew or a salad dressing. For the spicy hearted, we are offering a mixture of paprika seasoning enriched with green spices. And, as there is always a special demand for this, we are also offering smoked paprika.
As you see each year there has some news about how the paprika has been grown and how it has been processed. Through this blog we keep everybody informed with the latest updates. We have also created a Webshop so that everybody can also be informed about our products and our prices.
Tetszett a cikk? Ha szeretne még paprikás és fűszeres témában, heti rendszerességgel cikket olvasni, hírt kapni az ÚJ paprika elkészültéről, iratkozzon fel hírlevelünkre. Subscribe to our Blog and enjoy our Paprika Poster.
