Stunned people are only just discovering what paprika is actually made from

Stunned people are only just discovering what paprika is actually made from, realising that in hindsight it’s actually... very simple. The clue’s often on the packaging, for starters.

Find out what it’s made from – and even how to make it, if you’re that way inclined – here:

Paprika is a spice many of us like to throw into dishes to add a bit of pep, with the bright red powder varying in heat, smokiness and sweetness.

It really is the everyman of the kitchen, sitting as confidently in a curry as it does in beef stroganoff.

But what actually is it?

jeehyun/Alamy Stock Photo

Many spices and herbs are named after the plant from which they hail, with cumin powder made from dried cumin seeds and cinnamon taken from the inner bark of tree species from the genus Cinnamomum.

But there's no such thing as a paprika seed, root or tree, so there aren’t many hints there.

In fact, the name ‘paprika’ stems from the ingredient it’s made from: pepper – sweet red peppers, to be precise.

According to Etymonline.com, the name comes from the Hungarian ‘paprika’, a ‘diminutive from Serbo-Croatian papar "pepper," from Latin piper or Modern Greek piperi’.

It adds that it is made using a 'New World plant, introduced into Eastern Europe by the Turks; known in Hungary by 1569’.

One person recently admitted they’d only just realised what the spice actually was, saying they had just assumed ‘paprika tress’ were a thing.

Twitter

“Learning that Paprika is just dried and crushed red bell peppers was really shocking,” they tweeted.

“Like I dunno why I thought there was a Paprika tree somewhere.”

Since being posted at the end of January, the tweet has racked up more than 15,000 retweets and 170,000 likes, suggesting the revelation was not just theirs.

While some were baffled that others didn’t know, saying it was ‘common knowledge’, someone else commented: “Like I could’ve sworn there was a paprika plant.”

Another also posted a photo of a packet of paprika, which had red peppers on the front – a link they’d never made until now.

Twitter/@sdpowell1

“I just pulled this out, which was obviously sent to me by my mother in one of her random packages, and OMG,” they said.

Others came forward with their own food-based misunderstandings, with one saying ashamedly: “You’re not as bad as me who didn’t realize guacamole is just avocados. I always thought it tasted familiar. SMH.”

Oh guys...