Features

• Also called pimiento in Spanish, the pimento is a variety of mild red chili similar to the bell pepper. The roughly heart-shaped pepper is about three to four inches long and about two to three inches wide. It is considered sweeter than a standard bell pepper.

Uses

• Pimentos can be used fresh or pickled. They are an ingredient in pimento cheese, pimento loaf (a type of lunch meat) and prepared Spanish green olives.

History

• Originally cooks would cut the pimentos into cubes and stuff them by hand into pitted olives as a complement to the olive's strong taste. In modern production facilities, the cut-up pimento is stuffed by a pitting and stuffing machine. The pimento is sometimes pureed and reconstituted as a gel.