Paprika and Chilli Peppers in Moroccan History

The pepper crosses the ocean

All peppers, sweet and hot, belong to the genus Capsicum, domesticated in the Americas and carried to the Old World by Spanish and Portuguese traders from the late 15th century onward. They spread with remarkable speed, taking root in Mediterranean, Ottoman, African and Asian cuisines within a few generations. North Africa received them through the same networks that brought tomatoes and beans, and by the modern era the pepper was fully naturalised in Moroccan gardens and kitchens.

Dried and ground into paprika, the sweet red pepper became especially important. It offered colour, mild warmth and a gentle fruity depth without overwhelming heat — qualities perfectly suited to the aromatic, balanced Moroccan palette. Fresh green and red peppers also entered the cuisine, roasted for salads or added to stews.

Sweet over fiery

The most telling feature of Morocco's relationship with the pepper is its preference for the sweet over the hot. Where some cuisines seized on the chilli for its heat, Moroccan cooking mostly embraced the milder end of the Capsicum range. Sweet paprika is a default seasoning, present in vast numbers of dishes, while hot chilli is used more sparingly and deliberately. This fits the wider Moroccan aesthetic, which prizes warmth and aroma — cumin, ginger, saffron, cinnamon — over the burning heat that defines, say, Tunisian harissa.

That said, heat is not absent. Hot paprika and dried chillies season certain dishes, and a fiery kick appears in some grilled-meat rubs, in harissa where it is used, and in regional specialities. But the balance tilts firmly towards the sweet and the aromatic.

• Charmoula: sweet paprika is a core ingredient of the herb-and-spice marinade.
• Tagines: paprika colours and deepens the sauces of many braises.
• Cooked salads: zaalouk and roasted-pepper salads rely on paprika and fresh peppers.

Growing and grinding

Morocco grows peppers widely, from the market gardens of the Souss to plots across the agricultural plains, supplying both fresh peppers and the raw material for paprika. In the spice souks, paprika is sold in bright mounds, its colour and freshness a matter of pride, and cooks distinguish between the sweet and the hot grades. The powder features in spice blends, in the seasoning of grilled meats and brochettes, and in the daily cooking of the household.

For the fiery paste this pepper produces further east, see the history of harissa in North Africa, and for the wider arrival of American crops, see New World foods in Moroccan cuisine.