Most commercial brands come from Spain, South America, California, and Hungary.
Certainly, it is world renowned as a key ingredient in Hungarian cuisine. In fact, totally erroneously legends would have it that the feared Hungarian warriors of the early Middle Ages, who rode through Europe on the backs of wild horses striking terror into the hearts of the locals, were fired by paprika-laden dishes. The first pepper plants arrived in Hungary during the l7th century. Others believe pepper plants were introduced by ethnic groups from the Balkans, who were fleeing north from the Turks. Henceforth, records kept by pepper growers and old cookbooks show that paprika became commonly used as a spice in Hungary at the end of the l8th century.