AMERICAN-GROWN" PAPRIKA. 3 
that the name rarely refers to the grades supposed to be prepared 
from the walls of the fruit, but rather to those which are made by 
grinding' the whole pod, including the seeds and placenta?. The 
paprika occurring in American trade has reflected this character in 
response to the taste of the consumer and his varying ability to pay 
the price. 
Under authority of the act of Congress of May 3, 1903, providing 
for the establishment of standards of purity for food products, a 
set of definitions of foods and drugs and their products was framed 
and issued as Circular 19 from the Office of the Secretary of Agri- 
culture on June 26, 1906. In this circular (p. 11) paprika was defined 
as follows : " Paprika is the dried ripe fruit of Capsicum annuum L. 
or some other large-fruited species of Capsicum, excluding seeds and 
stems." This limited the applicability of the term to its narrowest 
sense and excluded from the definition all except the more expensive, 
relatively nonpungent grades. The pods when ground with the seed 
came under the definition of red pepper, given in the same circular 
(p. 11) as follows: "Red pepper is the red, dried ripe fruit of any 
species of Capsicum." 
Later, however, this condition of aifairs seems to have been some- 
what modified, since in reply to a note of inquiry from the Chief of 
the Bureau of Plant Industry concerning the status of American- 
grown paprika Dr. H. W. Wiley, as chairman of the Board of Food 
and Drug Inspection, on November 25, 1908, said : 
The Board of Food and Drug Inspection has considered the letter addressed 
to it by you, under date of November 12, concerning the marketing of paprika 
grown in this country. The board is of the opinion that the department will 
take no action in the case of paprika made by grinding whole pods — that is, 
the shells and seeds exclusive of the stem — when the product is sold under the 
name of " paprika," but the paprika thus ground should not consist of a larger 
amount of seeds than are- normal to the pods with which the seeds are ground. 
In view of the fact that the seeds of paprika have a nutty, oily 
flavor which influences the condimental quality of the product, this 
practical extension of the definition of paprika made it possible for 
consumers to secure under the name of paprika a greater variety of 
condiment than before. 
Since paprika has heretofore been exclusively an imported product, 
the question arose as to whether in a legal sense the name had acquired 
any geographical significance likely to interfere with the use of the 
name " paprika " for the American product. In answer to an inquiry 
on this point, Dr. Wiley, as Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry, on 
March 8, 1907, wrote : 
In my opinion the word " paprika " has no geographical significance and may 
be applied to the pepper in question, no matter where grown. I can see no 
objection, therefore, to its use upon pepper which has been grown from the 
Hungarian seed in the United States. 
