Smoked Paprika

We follow "Spain on a Fork" on YouTube.  He regularly uses smoked paprika.  A video by "True Food TV" in their How it is Made series shows how paprika is traditionally made in Spain.  Prior to all this, I did not realize that paprika is dried and powdered peppers.  It can be smoked to add flavour, and one can use hotter peppers as well to give you 4 variations on the theme.  Last year was our first experiment with doing this - I'd purchased a smoker with an offset fire box years ago, but had never used it prior.  This year, to preserve some of our pepper harvest, She Who Must Be Obeyed requested (i.e. told me to make it so) we make more smoked paprika.  We had a really good sweet pepper harvest this year, but our hot peppers didn't germinate well, so had limited pods.

Most of the peppers used are the Feher Ozon variety, an heirloom considered a paprika pepper.

I made a point of documenting the process I used this year photographically.  I started Sunday morning and completed today (Wednesday afternoon)

Traditionally, in Spain, they smoke over oak wood...I have some alder chips on hand, so added them.  I primarily used wood (should be ash) supplemented with some charcoal briquettes.

It came out to be about 116g of finished product.  

You're an inspiration. I should try this next time we have extra peppers.

I'm salivating at the idea of fresh smoked paprika.

Bravo!

Thanks to both of you.  

One thing to note is that dehydrating these indoors leads to a campfire aroma inside (we don't have wood heat).  If one doesn't like that, then dehydrating outdoors would be valuable.

I've been making "smoked paprika" for years, although I usually use cayenne and Thai peppers which are thin skinned and dry easily and retain their color well and tend to be plentiful producers in the garden (sometimes habaneros and even scorpions).

I usually use cherrywood to smoke them but really like using only the strips of bark from Shagbark Hickory which I sustainably and carefully  harvest from my father's property, it is magical and imparts a uniquely strong and pungent smokiness not normally found in smoked foods and blends beautifully in any stews and soups.

Great thread! I also make paprika and smoke some of it. This year I’m using Ajvarski, Lesya, and Gypsy peppers. I also dry jalapeños for chili powder.

I recommend only grinding a small amount rather than the entire batch. The powder clumps and loses flavor more quickly than the whole dried pieces. I store my dried peppers in vacuum sealed mason jars and also use desiccant packs in the jars. I found that the unground pieces really retain the best flavor.

Great pictures and beautiful peppers you’ve got there!!