Serious Eats
Making Paprika at Home
Hank Shaw of the always informative (and Beard Award–nominated) blog Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook shows us how to make homemade paprika. It's not the kind of thing you do over a weekend, though:
Turns out making paprika is easy, but it takes a while; it’s like that famous recipe for Stewed Elephant that starts with “cut elephant into bite-sized pieces.” You basically need to start paprika a year before you want the powder.
That's because he made it from chiles he grew last year and hung up to dry. As it turns out, you need just the right kind of pepper and need to dry them in a shady, arid spot. After that, it's a few rounds with the spice grinder and a fine-mesh sieve.