Mondo Knows Facts
Paprika colour comes from carotenoid pigments
Capsanthin and capsorubin give sweet paprika its red, not its heat
Paprika is ground from Capsicum annuum peppers bred for colour rather than pungency, and the red comes from carotenoids such as capsanthin and capsorubin. Smoke-dried Spanish pimentón picks up extra aroma from the oak fires used to dry the fruit. The paprika family ranges from sweet to hot depending on the cultivar.
Where this comes from
Food and Agriculture Organization
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Tags: paprika, spices, carotenoids
Paprika colour comes from carotenoid pigments: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Capsanthin and capsorubin give sweet paprika its red, not its heat. The figure is taken from Food and Agriculture Organization, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a food fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Food shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
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