Pimiento

Not to be confused with allspice.

Pimiento
Pickled cherry peppers
Heat	Mild

Note: pimento (Portuguese usage) and pimiento (Spanish spelling) are often used interchangeably in English, although, per the Webster's Dictionary of the English Language - Unabridged Encyclopedic Edition (1977) the two terms did, in some cases of usage, differentiate between Allspice (pimento), and paprika and certain types of garden pepper (pimiento). It is possible that the distinction, when made, between the two spellings could logically correlate to the countries of origin of the type of pepper indicated. The implication of the aforementioned dictionary is that general public usage in the USA tended in 1977 to not make a distinction, with the two spellings seen as alternative names for the same fruit, and this may still be the case.

One type of pimento or cherry pepper is a variety of large, red, heart-shaped chili pepper (Capsicum annuum) that measures 3 to 4 inches (7 to 10 cm) long and 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7 cm) wide (medium, elongate). The flesh of the pimento is sweet, succulent and more aromatic than that of the red bell pepper. Some varieties of the pimento type are hot, including the Floral Gem and Santa Fe Grande varieties. "Pimiento" is the Spanish word used in English. "Pimento" or "pimentão" are Portuguese words for "bell pepper", while "pimenta" refers both to chili peppers and to black peppercorns. It is typically used fresh, or pickled and jarred. The pimento has one of the lowest Scoville scale ratings of any chili pepper.

Stuffing

Green Spanish olives stuffed with pimento visible

These sweet pimento peppers are also the familiar red stuffing found in prepared Spanish green olives. The pimento was originally hand cut into small pieces and hand stuffed in olives to complement the strong flavor of the olive, however this ancient method is very time intensive. In the industrial era the cut pimento was shot via hydraulic pump through the olive getting rid of the pit. For ease of production, pimento is sometimes pureed and formed with the help of a natural gum (such as sodium alginate or guar gum) into strips. This allows the olive stuffing to be completed by a machine and increases the availability of the olives by lowering their cost of production. However, guar (an annual legume mostly produced in India) may inadvertently make the olives less accessible to consumers with peanut allergies, as those individuals may have a cross-reaction to the guar. This leaves sodium alginate as a more universal choice.

Other uses

Pimentos are commonly used for making pimento cheese, a sandwich filling in the Southern United States and the Philippines. Also used for making pimento loaf.

References

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language - Unabridged Encyclopedic Edition, Publishers International Press, New York, 1977.