# Smoked paprika powder



## savupoika (May 3, 2014)

Anyone coldsmoked a paprika powder ? What wood should be used ? La chinata is good smoked paprika, but i would like to make my own.


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## trikefreak (May 3, 2014)

I've not done paprika, yet. I have done garlic powder, salt, Chipotle powder, and I've tried using a low heat. I've only used pecan and hickory with my experiments. I'm looking forward to you final comments, this sounds good!


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## dls1 (May 3, 2014)

Savupoika said:


> Anyone coldsmoked a paprika powder ? What wood should be used ? La chinata is good smoked paprika, but i would like to make my own.


If your goal is to duplicate, or even replicate, the flavor of La Chinata, or any other quality smoked Pimenton de La Vera, I seriously doubt that you would have any success cold smoking another form of common paprika powder. The smoked pimenton from La Vera was born of necessity, not culinary design.

The two primary pimenton producing regions in Spain are Murcia, near the Southeastern coast, and La Vera, further North and to the West. The annual harvest of the peppers usually starts around the first of October. The weather in Murcia at the time of harvest is generally warm, sunny, and dry, and the peppers are dried in the open sun on large tables. In La Vera, however, harvest time usually coincides with the start of the regions rainy season so sun-drying is not an option.

Once picked, the peppers in La Vera are placed on large tables in smokehouses and smoked over holm oak for approximately two weeks. Once dried, the stems and seeds are removed by hand, and the peppers are ground with very slowly moving electrically controlled large stone wheels. From there, the pimenton is packaged.

Since the primary reason to smoke the peppers is to dry them, and any other powder you may want to cold smoke is already dry, you would have to experiment and figure out the smoking time. I don't know what that would be, but it sure wouldn't be much. Holm oak is a native to the Mediterranean regions and I don't know if that, or something similar, is available in Finland. Finally, in order to even come close to the pimenton from La Vera, you would need a powder made up with the same peppers used there, which are:

 - Pimenton Dulce (sweet): Bola and Jaranda

 - Pimenton Picante (hot): Jeromin and Jariza

 - Pimenton Agridulce (bittersweet): A blend of the dulce and picante.

All of this would overwhelm me and I doubt that I would even attempt it. That said, you may be up for it, so go for it.

As a final option, if you're so inclined, and time and conditions allow, shop around for the seeds online, and make your own pimenton from scratch.

Good Luck.


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## savupoika (May 3, 2014)

Thanks for the input! Im not going to replicate or dublicate good quality smokepaprikas, i dont think thats even possible without a really big effort. I was just thinking of buying paprika powder and throwing it to a smoker for some time. I have atleast hicroy, alder, cherry and mesquito right now. Hickory and mesquito can be very strong so maybe i should go with cherry or get some applewood ? Any suggestions ?

I know that chilipeppers just love applewood.


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## bgerog (May 16, 2014)

Savupoika said:


> Thanks for the input! Im not going to replicate or dublicate good quality smokepaprikas, i dont think thats even possible without a really big effort. I was just thinking of buying paprika powder and throwing it to a smoker for some time. I have atleast hicroy, alder, cherry and mesquito right now. Hickory and mesquito can be very strong so maybe i should go with cherry or get some applewood ? Any suggestions ?
> 
> I know that chilipeppers just love applewood.



I'll let you know...funny enough I just fired up the smoker with some paprika to try :)












image.jpg



__ bgerog
__ May 16, 2014


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## savupoika (May 17, 2014)

Thats a nice looking setup, you have all the goodies there at the same time. Let me know, i have not tested it yet.


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## dirtsailor2003 (May 22, 2014)

We smoke paprika (powdered) all the time. We also smoke all kinds of other spices, salt, pepper, garlic, etc... I do cold smoke it, usually for 2-3 hours. Types of wood very but I tend to use sweeter woods like Apple, cherry, peach, pecan or alder. I spread out the spices on parchment paper. on the grates. Makes it easy to get back into the containers as you can crease the paper to make a funnel.


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## katemail13 (Dec 21, 2014)

This is great information.  Thanks, guys!  I'm planning to smoke some salt and some paprika soon...but I need to get some milder wood pellets first.  All I have are hickory and mesquite.

-Katie


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## smokednarwhal (Dec 22, 2014)

image.jpg



__ smokednarwhal
__ Dec 22, 2014





Here is some salt and paprika I smoked a while back with apple wood. I love cooking with this stuff, smoked paprika on oven roasted cauliflower is one of my favorites!


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## brownpeter335 (Mar 10, 2015)

No. I didn't smoke paprika powder. Thanks for the information about this.


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