Zombori István (szerk.): Nagy István emlékkönyv (Szeged, 1999)

TÓTH István: A „Pálfy testvérek" szegedi cég történetéből. A gyógykovács tudománytól a paprikagyár felvirágoztatásáig

(1934-1944) Szeged város polgármestere volt. Fia Pálfy György a II. világháború után Szeged első polgármestere, majd helyettes polgármester s végül főispán. Csak reménykedni tudunk abban, hogy a szélesebb nagyközönség körében is fokozatosan tudatosul majd - mit is jelentettek a Pálfyk Szeged történetében, ill. a paprikagyártás történetében. A Kotányi fűszerkereskedés feldolgozása után a mostani Pálfy vállalat rövid ismertetése újabb előrelépés a „Kis szegedi cégtörténet" címet viselő gyűjteményes kötet létrejöttéhez. ISTVÁN TÓTH FROM THE HISTORY OF THE SZEGED COMPANY CALLED THE "PÁLFY BROTHERS" From the Science of the Medical Blacksmith to the Blossoming of the Paprika Mill The Pálfy family name appears in written records of Szeged as early as 1522. The Pálfy family in question is just one of the three whose name appears in these early documetns. They lived in Alsóváros (a suburb of Szeged) and thus engaged in agriculture and industry. The forerunner of the industrialists was Sándor Pálfy who opened up his blacksmith workshop in 1817. He was one of the few who were recognized guild masters, medical blacksmiths certified as a veterinary due to their skills and efforts. As a result of improvements and industrial expansion, the Pálfy family was ready for the production of paprika by the year 1859 with their invention which significantly influenced the amount of spice produced. This greatly affected the use and consumption of paprika on a large sale. This invention made possible the European export of the Szeged paprika from the 1880's. The technical know-how was in their hands and all that was needed was motivation. Their sister, Rozalia (her married name was Mrs. Steven Sávai) had grown paprika on a large scale, but was not able to process it fast enough and thus, a great quantity fell to waste. The invention solved the problem. In their books, Sándor Bálint (1962) and Mihály Szűch (1914) give detailed accounts of this processing technique. The rolling of the cleaned paprika, its drying and repeated grinding is a lengthly procedure, but it ensured the mass supply of paprika which was ground up to the fineness of flour. The twenty year period between 1859 and 1879 is the time it took to see whether this technique stood up to expectation. In 1879, they patented a new procedure, the cleaving and drying of the paprika became their patented technique instead of the rolling method. They bought the procedure from an Alsóváros resident and perfected it. This way there was nothing in way of processing an even greater quantity of paprika. This had a favourable effect on the enlargement of the growing fields and the transformation of the spice trade. With the increased production, the proportion of the paprika production increased the spice trade and thus, its role, too. The paprika which was produced in this way, steadily became an important basic ingredient in foods. We can follow the story of the " Pálfy Brothers" Company in the records of the Business Bureau beginning in 1896. In its profile, the firm remained to be noted as an iron smelting factory and paprika grinding mill. From its booming era, we can find out about the technical standard of the company from the newspapers of the time. The Szegedi Napló (Szeged Diary) published the following in 1907: "The forty-five horse power machine drives the famous Pálfy paprika mill, which has just been built on the other section of the factory. Six pairs of stones grind the hottest product, the rose paprika, of the Szeged soil continuously. The number one paprika of the world is packaged into bags after being put through the strainers and selecting rolls. The mill grinds two types of paprika: the rose paprika and the goulash paprika. It transports both types to all five 84