Paprika usually comes from bell peppers. The flavor of most paprika I've found in stores is slim to none, so I decided to try and make my own. This of course meant that it was going to be smoked paprika. After a quick trip to the store I had three red bell peppers ready to be made into a nice smoky paprika to use in BBQ rubs, etc. I rinsed the peppers and then sliced them up getting them ready to throw out on the smoker.
After the slices were ready I placed them on my smoker with some heavy duty aluminum foil underneath. The wood I used was pecan which is one of my all time favorite woods to smoke with. Almost everyone will have their own opinions on which wood is the best for a specific food. Try experimenting with different woods to find the flavor that you like the best. As far as the cost is concerned I would not recommend making your own paprika if you don't plan on doing some additional smoking. In my opinion there's just no reason to waist firing up the smoker on just this. You might as well throw a brisket on or a pork butt or chicken and make use of the wood and coal you're already burning. I smoked the peppers for a few hours before I decided to take them off the smoker. You could of course finish them off on the smoker.
I decided to take them in and finish drying them out with our dehydrator. This was only my first time making paprika, so I can't say if the flavor would have been different if I had chosen to smoke the peppers on the smoker till they were dry enough to blend into a powder. They certainly had a very strong smoky smell and it took us a couple days to get the smell out of the house. If that bothers anyone you might consider finishing them on the smoker.
Conclusion
The end result was a single snack size bag of smoked paprika. I can honestly say that it had a significant amount of flavor. Was it the flavor I was expecting...not really. It was good, but I think next time I might try throwing in an anaheim chili to mix things up. I highly recommend this if you're the type of person that likes to make/grow your own ingredients. I plan on experimenting more to get a flavor that works with a good brisket rub.
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