PLACE DES ÉPICES SMOKED PAPRIKA
■ Organic
■ 50g - 1.7oz.
■ Tin can
■ Product of Murcia, Spain
Smoked paprika from Spain (Murcia), of the highest gustatory and olfactory quality. Contrary to what many people think, paprika comes from South America, not Africa or Asia. Organic paprika is the powdered form of sweet chili pepper (or capsicum, if you prefer). Once ripe and dried, the bell pepper(Capsicum annuum, of the Solanaceae family) is ground. Originating in South and Central America, paprika was cultivated by the Aztecs and Mayans around ten thousand years ago. Like pepper in the Middle Ages, it also had an exchange value.It was during the colonization of America in the early 16th century that paprika invaded Europe. Spain cultivated it and produced so much that other European countries called it Spanish pepper. It has to be said that, at the time, people were still convinced that the pepper plant was the origin of many spices: pipper, pimento, pimentia, pipali, peperi, etc. In order to differentiate this verbal imbroglio, botanists defined it as capsicum (generic name for peppers, in the Solanaceae family, which also includes tomatoes, tobacco and potatoes).
Place des Epices has been in the back of our minds for 30 years now. Our parents were gourmet restaurateurs who worked with fresh produce all their lives, our uncles and aunts were hoteliers, and our great-grandparents were butchers at Les Halles de Paris. Franck is an art director, Fred a botanist, and their shared passion for eating and entertaining led them to develop Place des Epices, an organic grocery store for the vast majority of products. We surround ourselves with the best spice suppliers in France and Europe, and scour the world for different products, each more astonishing than the last. Aswan, Taliouine, Alnif, Panamaram: so many cities of the world that we visit to come back with our heads full of emotions, beautiful encounters and recipes. Today it's Aurore, Laetitia, Yaiza and Julien who help us prepare and dispatch your orders on a daily basis, and tomorrow we'll be welcoming other enthusiasts. The circle is growing, but the workshop will always remain on a human scale to preserve our know-how and the quality of our products.
