Paprika Powder: ASTA Grades, Raw Material and Colour Loss

Paprika is ground sweet pepper, bought for its red colour and mild flavour, not for heat. In Xinjiang, strong sun and wide day–night temperature swings build pigment: the lantern-shaped Sweet Pepper King, 12–15 cm long, reaches ASTA 180–220 with under 1,000 SHU, and the flatter Ban Jiao 160–190. In Shandong, Qingzhou lantern pepper runs at ASTA 150–180 and Shouguang pepper at 140–170. Open-field pepper from Inner Mongolia and Gansu reaches 130–160.

Seeds dilute colour and add bitterness, so premium powder is fully deseeded; deseeded skin sells for 50% or more above seeded pepper. Milling yields about 90–93% from pure skin, 82–87% from stemless seeded pepper and 75–80% from stem-on bulk. Xinjiang sweet peppers arrive from mid-September to late October, and Shandong's from October to mid-November.

Export paprika is sorted to remove mould, pale shells and stems, deseeded, crushed to 5–10 mm and then milled at 45 °C or below in a cooled mill. Milling above about 50 °C can cut ASTA by 10–20% and drive off aroma. The powder is sieved to a consistent mesh, losing 2–5%, then sterilised: a short steam treatment at 105–110 °C is common, with little effect on colour or flavour. Some buyers require irradiation and others forbid it.

Colour keeps falling after milling: about 5–10% with ordinary milling, 15–25% with hot milling, and another 10–20% after six months in store. Each lot should be tested for ASTA, moisture, microbiology and heat, and packed in light-proof foil or laminated bags.

Xinjiang powder runs at ASTA 160–220, deep red, sweet and almost without heat, and is the most expensive Chinese origin. Shandong runs at 120–180 with consistent quality and the largest milling capacity. Henan and Hebei give orange-red, milder powder at 80–140, 30–50% cheaper than Xinjiang.

Spanish pimentón reaches ASTA 180–260, in sweet or oak-smoked styles with a more complex aroma, at two to three times the price of premium Xinjiang powder. Hungarian paprika runs at 160–240 in sweet, semi-hot and hot grades. Peru supplies 100–180 with low heat, and India low-to-mid colour at low prices. In our team's view, Xinjiang now reaches European colour levels at 60–70% of the European price; for smoke and aroma, Spain remains the reference.