CAPSICUM FRUITS IN SZEGED

What a wonderful photo!

Capsicum fruits in Szeged, Hungary. Photo by Váradi Zsolt.

 

PAPRIKA PAPRIKA PARIKA : HUNGARIAN/ HUNGARIAN-AMERICAN STEREOTYPE

 

Hungarians supposedly use PAPRIKA generously and more so that salt.  I mean on EVERYTHING not just Chicken paprikash.  When I started this series on nationalistic stereotypes, I mentioned goulash.   You say "I'm Hungarian."  They say "Oh, Hungarian goulash."

 Well, it seems goulash has paprika in it too.  So do many recipes that have become traditional.  Hungarian cooking is said to be the only European fare that embraces heat.

 So what's the 'scoop?'

In Hungary there are many varieties of the peppers that were introduced, like tulips were, by the Turks, who were so much the enemy that they slaughtered two thirds of the Hungarians in order to occupy and take over the country. But then maybe the Hungarians only borrowed the name for the plant from Turkish words and were more comfortable with the notion that the peppers originated in Portugal. The Hungarians liked these peppers, not to be confused with the Spanish/Mexican peppers, as these have a more sweet taste. Peppers are higher in Vitamin C than citrus and provided much of the vitamin C at a time when citrus was a tropical fruit that didn't grow in a temperate climate and wasn't imported much either. There are a variety of these peppers with different degrees of heat, from none to mouth burning.

Supposedly if you buy paprika you should use it within 6 months because of flavor changes that could mean the taste goes bitter but I've had the same tin longer than that, from an American grocer too, and it's just fine sprinkled on boiled eggs after 'deviling' the yolks, and on potato salad or on freshly made humus.

So here's the catch. In the United States only one type of paprika spice is generally sold (but for a little importing into rare specialty stores) so many a Magyar-American may not even know about the other flavor varieties available in Hungary and so have a limited number of recipes to use it in. (American paprika is often a product of California.)  Depending on the region of Hungary, the soil there, the pepper has a different flavor.

Which means that Hungarians in Hungary have the variety and the knowledge on how to use the various peppers and paprikas made of them and are judicious.  And get this : a pepper is a pepper and a chili is a chili... sometimes they look the same but they are not, so if you enter a hot chili eating contest you're not eating hot pepper. Sweet, hot, or smoked, you basically have two varieties, and the one that began to be integrated into Hungarian cooking in the 17th century is from Szeged. 

No, Hungarians DO NOT lavish paprika on everything or without first tasting the dish before deciding to sprinkle more on.  However, paprikas are used in very many recipes. So, as for this stereotype, perhaps it's one to be applied more to the Hungarians than the Hungarian-Americans?

Here is a good discussion about the history and use of paprika! THE HUNGARIAN PAPRIKA

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HARVEST ANGEL

 

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO BEING HUNGARIAN : AN INTELLIGENT BOOK THAT IS ALSO FUN

 Sixteen notable writers.

These writers tackle subjects beyond stereotypes (like the cover of the book - peppers and mustaches) about what Hungary and Hungarians are about, looking at the past as well as the present situation as a result of the past. Pride in a unique heritage is one thing, people not picking up dog poo in Budapest is another.  From places to go and things to do, to relatives who got stranded in what is now another country before the country was significantly chopped. From heritage horses, pigs, and sheep, to the fact that the Hortobagy Plain was once forested and the vacant salty expanse of it now is due to overgrazing of animals.

Folk customs... likely begun in the 17th century or so not brought from Eurasia. Regional dress that used to identify village, class, and so on, now mainly worn by textile sellers and people on their way to dance class but yet there are places in Hungary where there exists people who can 'read' or identify the dress. The

difference between folk tale and folk legend and more than one origin story.  These short essays seem more reckoning than opinion,  I thoroughly enjoyed this intelligent book, which also, I am so happy to say, is not mired or overly sober.

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All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights

TENDER

MEDITATION SUNSET FROM MISKOLC

 

Beautiful sundown over Miskolc and no Commercials! From Chasing Sanity YouTube Channel.

HUNGARIAN WOMEN on GENEALOGY RECORDS : PRO GENEALOGY TIPS

In September of 2014 I posted a series of Genealogy Tips focused on the special considerations researching Hungarian women of our heritage. In an effort to make all the genealogy tip series I've written for this blog, I've given each a unique label as well as icon.

The label, which you can click to bring up the series, is Hungary-Women - Genealogy Tips

The series also uses the icon to the left which comes from Wikimedia . The image was scanned by Szilas from the book Erdely Tortenet (History of Transylvania) which was held in the National Szehenyi Library and is identified as being an Hungarian noble of Transylvania.

(Costume Bilder aus Siebenbürgen)

You must go to the original image to determine if you can use it for your purposes, as it may depend on what country you're using it in. 

HUNGARICANA URBARIUM 1767 : HOW STATUS on CHURCH AND CENSUS RECORDS CAN HELP YOU WITH YOUR HUNGARIAN GENEALOGY TIP#14

Addition to previous posts on the 1767 Urbarium (also called the Marie-Theresa census) which was previously a series posted to this blog!  You can bring up the whole series by clicking on the tag/label Pro tips: 1767 Hungaricana Urbarium

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Just going over some of my personal research I wanted to add to the previous series that you can pull up by clicking on the label Pro tips: 1767. 

I mentioned that sometimes you will find in birth, marriage, and other church records the profession or "status" of the person listed.  And that when you look at the Marie Theresa census findings, you will also see that people are listed by class or status.  First listed is the owner of the estate, then the Colony, then Inquilis and then Subinqulis.  I want to expand upon that.

I mentioned that sometimes in Latin or Hungarian (and sometimes in Slovak or German) the mention of Free People or People free to go.  These people are usually mentioned in COLONY.  I said that people in the COLONY list are sometimes called "Perpetual People" and that meant that they came with the land, or they were "always there." 

Some of these people did indeed seem to "always" live there, but some of the free to go or COLONY people are also what is called Castle Warriors or the nobility of the lowest nobility, or sometimes nobility of the highest but for whom there is no more land or money to go around.  These great families may have split land, sold land, lost land, or been disenfranchised due to the slaughter by the Turks or in war with them over hundreds of years. Now on small plots of land sufficient to feed their family and sell some on the side, they may also be listed in the 1828 land census. However, they are still nobles and recognized and honored as such. 

Let's say you are dealing with COMMON surnames. However you see on church records that someone is listed as COLONY.  Therefore if you see people of the same surname on the census in the COLONY you probably have a match.  Colony people owned their land, so the may be matched with the names on the 1828 Land Census.  Now, if the person with the surname is listed as a subinquilis, a person sub-renting the land to farm on, thus close to the serf-landlord relationship with that surname, we cannot confuse them with the people in the Colony.

It's not a guaranteed match for things did happen back in the day that were not usual.  It is always possible that someone who was a servant for the landlord inherited land from him.  It's possible that the beautiful maiden of a subinquilis marries the landlord.  However, class structure was what it was, such situations were not usual.

Arranged marriages continued the idea that one should marry in their own class and in farming communities who married who might be a community decision. Additionally, some landlords did act as though they owned every man's woman, and might want to be with a virgin before she could meet up with her new husband on his wedding night. Such conditions were akin to what happened in American slavery, not all the time, but sometimes. I wish I could say that religion prevented this but I doubt it did. Sexism, as we see it, prevailed. 

Back in that day people were born into the circumstances that would effect if not dictate their entire lives. To have Choice is what Freedom as all about. Declaring freedom is not the same as actually having it. 

Noting class and status on records is important and may be just the thing that helps you connect correctly to the right ancestors.

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FOLK LIFE PRESERVED at SKANZEN OPEN AIR MUSEUM - SZENTENDRE : WONDERFUL PLACES IN HUNGARY #14

SKANZEN OPEN AIR MUSEUM  SKANZEN ORG   in SZENTENDRE   

A non profit that is preserving the folk life - the houses, interior design, objects of art and use, recipes... Look on line here...

Is it time to make ELDER FLOWER JUICE?  The recipe is online...

EXCERPT: The more and more elaborate settlement plan appropriates the relocation of more than 400 edifices into the museum, arranged into village-like regional units on the basis of ethnographical considerations.  Within the unites buildings are fitted into the traditional system of peasant households, supplemented by sacred, communal and outbuildings which used to be integral parts of traditional villages.  Dwellings and farm-buildings represent the typical houses and outbuildings having evolved historically in each region....

Click on the label Wonderful-Hungary to bring up all posts on this theme.

NEW BRUNSWICK - NEW JERSEY HUNGARIAN HERITAGE CENTER - FESTIVAL - MUSEUM - SOCIALS

NEW BRUNSWICK - AMERICAN HUNGARIAN FEDERATION   For several waves of immigration from Hungary, the New Brunswick area has been welcoming.  A yearly festival and lots of other activities make this city a travel destination for Hungarians and Hungarian-Americans  (or as they say American Hungarians).

AMERICAN HUNGARIAN FOUNDATION  an exciting digital library and archive links that can be helpful to your research...

Excerpt:  Publications, lecture series, festivals, exhibitions comprise a variety of activities to present literary and scientific output, as well as works of fine and folk art.  The collection is no doubt a major source of research on America Hungarians, annual dinners and fundraising balls were organized, scholarships and fellowships were offered to support scholarly research.

GATHERING