Paprika

[Zak]

I love fresh paprika in BBQ/grilling marinades. But within a few weeks, the paprika in the jar turns to sawdust and ashes. I'm often throwing out half a jar.

Does anyone have a hack for keeping paprika bright and fresh? Or a source for small vacuum sealed packets of paprika that I could open and use one at a time?

 

[Evan B]

Vacuum pack, seal and freeze. Paprika oxidizes super quick. I'd keep a small jar of it on-hand, and have the rest in the freezer.

 

[Zak]

Vacuum pack, seal and freeze. Paprika oxidizes super quick. I'd keep a small jar of it on-hand, and have the rest in the freezer.

I don't have a vacuum packer. Do you think freezing it in a ziplock with most of the air pressed out and spooning some out when I need it would work well?

 

[Evan B]

I don't have a vacuum packer. Do you think freezing it in a ziplock with most of the air pressed out and spooning some out when I need it would work well?

You're asking a guy with a nearly commercial-grade chamber vac sitting on his kitchen counter in the spot normal people have a microwave

I think that technique is certainly worth a shot. Better than having it NOT in the freezer and open to the air.

 

[Porter2]

Roasted smoked paprika cauliflower is so !

Smoked

 

[Mossback]

Cumin is the same...fades fast when powdered.

 

[Pink Nighty]

In the world of spice containment,
metal >glass>plastic>baggies. Light degradation is a real and often overlooked source of lost potency.

I buy my nice paprika chunky (also helps it retain potency) and it lives in a plastic ziploc in a metal container. Don't notice much loss in the 3ish months a tub lasts

 

[Zak]

In the world of spice containment,
metal >glass>plastic>baggies. Light degradation is a real and often overlooked source of lost potency.

I buy my nice paprika chunky (also helps it retain potency) and it lives in a plastic ziploc in a metal container. Don't notice much loss in the 3ish months a tub lasts

What do you mean chunky, chunks of whole dried pepper?

 

[Pink Nighty]

What do you mean chunky, chunks of whole dried pepper?

Yah, like less powder than a ground, dried pepper. Espellette.

 

[chief]

I don't have a vacuum packer. Do you think freezing it in a ziplock with most of the air pressed out and spooning some out when I need it would work well?

When we had some fish filleted for us down in Loreto the guy had a big tub of water that he dipped the bags in to push all of the air out before he sealed them. It worked pretty well. It might be hard to do with Paprika because it is so light weight, but with the fillets they were 99% vacuum sealed.

 

[Buzzy]

Cumin is the same...fades fast when powdered.

I remember (do I remember correctly?) you sharing a source for fresh spices other than what exists in the Columbia Basin (Safeway, Walmart, North 40....), but I can't find that rec.

 

[Mossback]

I've used World Spice, ans Spices Inc.
Spices Inc has the dried chiles I like, but both have pre mixed blends also.
Been a while since I shopped those.