Paprika, I don't understand it

Oops, I forgot to finish my response. I do feel that regular paprika has some taste although mild and in too high concentration just tastes like annoying powder.

I love smoked paprika, great on shrimp with herbs and lemon.

Dinner at ten, I cannot agree more!!! Good quality "normal" paprika adds very subtle fine flavor to your dish. It's not meant to explode into your face, but without really noticing it, it changes the dish.

Yes, brands like McCormick, etc. are just 'red' flavor powder. (Sort of like Kool-Aid is 'red' flavor, not actual cherry or whatever.)

I guess it depends on where you live, but I'm able to find decent Hungarian paprika (sweet and hot) at my regular supermarket. I've found good Spanish smoked paprika from time to time mixed in with the motley assortment of 'gourmet' food at Marshall's too.

"Normal"/Hungarian paprika is absolutely a worthwhile spice, as long as it's fresh and reasonable quality. I use it frequently in many Mediterranean/Middle Eastern dishes. If you've experienced it as flavorless, you are probably using very old paprika (that old McCormicks tin you may have inherited from your grandma?) that may have been poor quality to begin with. While spice specialists like Penzey's, as mentioned above, would certainly sell good paprika, I buy mine in bulk at a local co-op. I would bet the nicer brands of bottles spices you can find at Whole Foods and the like are pretty good too.
I also like using pimenton, but for only partly overlapping purposes. It's pretty much always smoked (even the dulce) so you have to want the smoke flavor.

Good on-line sources for Spanish pimenton include La Espanola, La Tienda and The Spanish Table. A bit more expensive than the supermarket "paprika" but worth it.

I agree. I have normal paprika (why?!) and some sweet spanish paprika. I love using the latter in cooking!

There is a wide spectrum of "paprika". Technically the Spanish pimentons should not be included in it. Where is Lineaus when we need him? Paprika is the Hungarian version and unless you go to a really good spice shop like Penzey's the supermarket version is not much good for anything beyond adding color to deviled eggs. Spanish pimenton can be "dolce", "picante" or "ahumado". Piment d'Espelette which comes from the Basque region (actually on the French side of the frontier).

Hi Valerie! I agree with the regular ol' paprika (color to devil eggs?!?). Invest in some sweet and hot and you will be good to go, IMO.

This link may shed some light: http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-hot-sweet-68134