Why We Even Care So Much
I mean, does knowing paprika is just ground-up red pepper really change anything? Not really. It still works wonders in everything from Hungarian goulash to BBQ rubs to those aggressively orange Spanish potatoes. It adds that warm, earthy, slightly sweet thing. Sometimes smoky. Sometimes not. Depends on the kind.
But maybe it’s just that the illusion got shattered. Like, we all grew up thinking of spices as exotic and mysterious, shipped in from faraway lands and crushed under the wheels of ancient spice caravans or something. And then we find out paprika is basically a dried bell pepper and suddenly the world feels a little… smaller.
Anyway. Next time you shake some over your breakfast potatoes or use it to make your chicken look less beige, just remember—it’s not magic. It’s just a red pepper with trust issues and a really good marketing team.
And yeah, no tree. Sorry.
