“We make everything with paprika — our food, it has to be red,” says Péter Szabo, the owner and producer of Hungarian paprika company Szabio. Paprika, which both his father and his grandfather also produced, is essential in Hungarian culture, used in dishes like chicken paprikash and körözött.
Szabo explains that his paprika comes from three different peppers: one for color, one for taste, and one for its oil level. After the peppers are picked by hand, workers funnel 10 kilograms of peppers into large mesh tubes that Szabo calls “salami bags” for their visual resemblance. This will yield one kilogram of paprika powder. The bags are then hung from the roof of a building to cure in the sun. The whole process requires patience: Only after four or five weeks can the workers sort through the peppers, manually remove their stalks, slice them, dry them, and then crush them into powder.
For Szabo, it’s a priority to produce the “very, very best quality,” even if it means producing in smaller quantities. “I was looking for these kinds of customers who are willing to pay for a little bit expensive product for the good quality,” Szabo says. In the United States, his paprika can be purchased through Burlap & Barrel.
Szabo sees his work as something he’s giving to the next generation. “Just a few farmers are doing the really good paprika powder and it actually makes me sad,” he says. “I love to do this — it’s our tradition, it’s our culture.”
Watch the latest episode of Vendors to learn more about how Szabio turns peppers into flavorful paprika.
