PAPRIKA. 19 



the grade received in this country. The second set, where the shells, 

 seeds, and placentae were ground together, would represent the 

 better grade, R6zsapaprika, or Rosenpaprika. It will be seen from 

 a study of these two sets of figures that the grinding of a normal 

 amount of stems has comparatively little effect upon the chemical 

 composition of the paprika,, the grinding of the stems slightly increas- 

 ing the total amount of ash, and slightly reducing the amount of 

 total ether extract, and also slightly increasing the crude fiber, but 

 not affecting any of these ingredients to such an extent as to throw 

 them beyond the normal variation found in the various samples. 

 In the next set of figures, where the shells were ground alone, a 

 product was obtained which is not a commercial product. It will 

 be seen that the ash of the shells and the crude fiber of the shells is 

 somewhat higher and the amount of oil is much lower, the composi- 

 tion of the latter being somewhat different, having an appreciably 

 higher iodin number. 



The results obtained on the seeds and placentae ground alone are 

 very different from the results found on the shells alone. The ash of 

 the former is very much lower and the ether extract very much 

 higher; in fact, most of the oily material is present in the seeds. 

 The volatile ether extract, however, in the seeds appears to be 

 practically negligible. The stems, when ground alone, show a very 

 much higher ash and sand content and a very much higher amount 

 of crude fiber. The ether extract is very low. 



The effect of the addition of stems to a ground paprika would be 

 to increase the ash and sand, decrease the amount of ether extract, 

 and increase the amount of fiber. The effect of the addition of 

 excessive amounts of seeds would be to lower the ash, to increase 

 the amount of ether extract, and to affect the other constitutents 

 only slightly. Excess of seeds is not often found in paprika, but 

 the possibility of added stems being ground is much greater, for the 

 reason that in the preparation of the finest grades of paprika, the 

 stems are removed, and undoubtedly in the preparation of such 

 grades as the Mercantile, there might be an excess of stems. 



The grinding of seeds normal to the pods in preparing paprika 

 seems to be a well recognized custom founded upon experience that 

 a better grade is thus produced. This is undoubtedly due to the 

 high fat content of the seeds, which intensifies the color and develops 

 or brings out the flavor to a better advantage. When the normal 

 amount of stems is ground, the effect is to produce a product of a 

 little lighter shade of red, but one that does not materially differ 

 in odor and taste from the product which is ground simply from 

 the pod. 



In order to get some idea of the taste and flavor of the various 

 parts of the paprika, pods from different samples were broken up into 



