Although it was invented “up North,” pimento cheese is known as a Southern specialty, along with barbecue, catfish and hush puppies, grits, red velvet cake, and sweet tea. Yet, according to a Southern culinary historian, the soft cheese and red bell pepper spread is a Northern invention.

The recipe to make your own pimento cheese is below, following the history of pimento cheese.

October 11th is Southern Food Heritage Day. April 9th is National Pimento Cheese Day.

But we love pimento cheese so much, we’re happy to celebrate it most days.

Below:

> The history of pimento cheese

> Ways to serve pimento cheese at every meal.

> Recipe: Make pimento cheese at home.

> Ways to elevate your recipe.

> Pimento vs. pimiento.

> The history of pimentos.

> The difference between bell peppers and pimentos.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The history of cheese.

> The different types of cheese: a photo glossary.

> The history of chile peppers.

> The different types of of chile peppers: a photo glossary.

> The year’s 30 cheese holidays.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF PIMENTO CHEESE

Today’s combination of grated Cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, seasonings and finely diced red pimento (the Americanized spelling of the Spanish pimiento, red bell pepper) started in the North as a cream cheese-based spread.

It blended the newly-introduced blocks of cream cheese with canned pimentos, newly imported from Spain.

The two ingredients may have been first combined by home economists, women who developed new recipes, and other tips for homemakers that were eagerly read in books, magazines, newspapers, and on product labels.

In the 1870s, New York State farmers began to make a soft, unripened cheese modeled after the French Neufchâtel cheese.

Within a few decades, a recipe for cream cheese appeared, made by mixing cream into the Neufchâtel curd. The new soft cheese was molded into small wood block forms.

Because the city of Philadelphia had a reputation for fine food, a New York-based manufacturer, Phenix Cheese Company, named its product Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese.

It was the leading brand then as now (J.L. Kraft and Bros., established in 1909, acquired Phenix Cheese Company in 1930; the company is now called Kraft Foods Group).

Philadelphia Brand actually sold two kinds of flavored cream cheese in addition to the original plain: Chive and Pimento.

All three were staples in our home.

 
 
The Pimento Cheese Sandwich Takes Hold

The cream cheese/pimento spread became a standard on tea sandwiches, and spread (no pun intended) from the tea party set to the working class.

It found its way onto lunch carts, along with the egg salad and ham and cheese sandwiches; and into sandwich shops and diners.

The first printed recipe unearthed so far is in Good Housekeeping magazine in 1908, for a sandwich filled that blended softened cream cheese, minced pimentos, mustard, and chives.

The following year, the Up-to-Date Sandwich Book published a simpler version: Neufchâtel cheese with chopped pimentos and a bit of salt on lightly buttered white bread.

Before World War I, dozens of similar recipes appeared in magazines and cookbooks.

Soon after World War I, southern farmers began growing pimentos. Locals mixed the canned domestic pimentos with grated Cheddar instead of cream cheese, which was then less available in the southern states.

In the South, pimento cheese remains a choice on tea room menus, sliced into triangles; and as a finger sandwich with cocktails.

Commercial brands of pimento cheese can be found in most supermarkets, to be spread on crackers at home. Every home cook has his or her favorite recipe.

The contention among Cheddar fans whether to use yellow or white cheddar, or a combination of the two.

Some people like their pimento cheese creamy, with hand-grated cheese and extra mayonnaise, while others prefer a drier, chunkier spread blended in a food processor.

Some family recipes require a specific kind of mayonnaise or hot sauce. Additional ingredients can range from grated onion to ketchup to Worcestershire sauce
 
 
HOW TO SERVE PIMENTO CHEESE AT EVERY MEAL

#1: PIMENTO CHEESE FOR BREAKFAST

If you want a taste of the original pimento cheese, you’ll have to blend your own diced pimentos into cream cheese.

But if you want to embrace Southern-style pimento cream cheese, here’s how to do it, along with a recipe to make your own Cheddar-based pimento cheese:

 
 
#2: PIMENTO CHEESE FOR LUNCH & DINNER

 

[9] How about pimento mac and cheese? Here’s the recipe (photo © Taste Of Home).
 
 
#3: PIMENTO CHEESE FOR HORS D’OEUVRE & SNACKS

[2] Don’t forget the hot dog, here topped with pimento cheese and some fresh jalapenos (photos #2 and #3 © Birdie’s Pimento Cheese).

[3] A pimento cheese and bacon sandwich on a biscuit.

[4] A pimento cheese quiche (photo © Callie’s Hot Little Biscuits | Facebook).

[5] Party perfect: a pimento cheese ball Here’s the recipe. (photos #5 and #8 © Wisconsin Cheese).

[6] With wine, beer or cocktails: pimento cheese and crackers, toasts or sliced baguette. Here, we used artisan nut bread (photo by Katharine Pollak | © THE NIBBLE).

[7] Pimento cheese with crudites (photo © 33 Greenwich | NYC [now closed])

[8] For entertaining or snacking: a crock of pimento cheese and sliced baguette or toasts.

 
 
RECIPE: PIMENTO CHEESE SPREAD

The original pimento cheese was made with Philadelphia cream cheese (photo #10). You can find recipes made with Cheddar, Cheddar-cream cheese blends, and other cheeses. Being from New York, the capital of cream cheese, our mother made “the original.”

This recipe is southern-style with Cheddar, but you can try Dolly Parton’s cream cheese-based pimento spread whenever you like.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the mayonnaise, pimiento, Worcestershire sauce, onion, and cayenne in a large bowl. Stir in the cheese.

2. CHILL in the refrigerator to let the flavors meld. Serve at room temperature. The spread can be stored in the fridge for up to 1 week.
 
Recipe Variations

To elevate pimento cheese beyond the traditional base of cheddar, pimento, and mayonnaise, you can incorporate ingredients that introduce complexity through umami, heat, or texture.

GOURMET: Scroll below the photo.
 

[10] Here’s Dolly Parton’s pimento cheese recipe. Note that she prefers a base of cream cheese instead of Cheddar (photo © Taste Of Home).
 
 
THE GOURMET TOUCH: WAYS TO ELEVATE THE RECIPE

.

Tip for Consistency: If you’re using “wet” ingredients like olives, be sure to pat them thoroughly dry before folding them in.
 
 
PIMENTO VS. PIMIENTO

You’ll see both spellings on cans and jars and in recipes. Are they both correct?

In most culinary contexts, they refer to the same sweet, heart-shaped red pepper, but there is a notable linguistic divide depending on where you are.

 

[11] Growing pimentos (Gemini Photo).
 
 
THE HISTORY OF PIMENTO

First, let’s blame Christopher Columbus. Columbus got lost and ended up renamed everything incorrectly. See the *footnote for the fun facts.
The Great Misunderstanding

In 1492, as every schoolchild knows, Columbus sailed west in search of the East Indies hoping to get hold of their lucrative black pepper (Piper nigrum). When he inadvertently arrived in the Caribbean and tasted the local spicy fruits (chile peppers are fruits), he believed he had found what he was looking for.

He called them “pimienta,” the Spanish word for peppercorn.

Similarly, he mis-named chilis, the Aztec (Nahuatl) word for what we call chiles/chilis/chillies, peppers.

While chile peppery were a completely different genus (Capsicm) unrelated to peppercorns (Piper), the name stuck.

Eventually, the Spanish distinguished between the two:

 
The history and more continue below the photo.
 

[12] Wonderful with beer, wine, and cocktails. Treat yourself to an order from one of our favorite cheesemakers (photo © Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co.).
 
Pimientos Go Global

When Spanish explorers returned home with the fruit, farmers selectively bred the peppers to be sweeter and milder, eventually creating the “pimiento” we know today: low in heat (capsaicin) but high in sugar and aroma.

By the 18th century, pimientos were being used to stuff olives to balance the saltiness of the olive. Initially done by hand, the process was mechanized in the early 20th century by using a pimiento-flavored gel or paste to ensure uniform strips.

Pimiento Cheese Is Born

In the late 1800s, canned pimientos were imported to the U.S. from Spain. When they were paired with New York’s newly invented cream cheese, a domestic classic was born.

Over time, American English dropped the “i,” and “pimento cheese” became the standard American spelling.
 
 
BELL PEPPERS VS. PIMENTOS: THE DIFFERENCE

While bell peppers and pimientos are both members of the species Capsicum annuum, they have distinct differences in flavor, texture, and heat levels. Both are excellent for both cooking and eating raw.

Flavor and Sweetness

 
Heat Level (Scoville Scale)

Even though both are considered ““sweet” chile peppers, they sit on different rungs of the Scoville Scale:

 

Gemini Chart.
 
________________
 
*Columbus’s journals and maps are famous for a re-naming thing. In addition to renaming pimiento and chiles, here are the other significant things he renamed or misnamed:

People and Lands: His most famous error was calling the indigenous Lucayan, Taíno, and Arawak peoples Los Indios “Indians.” He died still largely convinced he had reached the eastern shores of India. The very first island he reached was known as Guanahaní by the native Lucayans. Columbus immediately renamed it San Salvador (“Holy Savior”). He renamed the island of Xaymaca (which meant “land of wood and water”) Santiago, after Saint James. Fortunately for modern travelers, the original Arawak name outlasted his, eventually becoming Jamaica. He sighted the island the native Taíno called Borikén and christened it San Juan Bautista. While the island is now Puerto Rico, the name he gave it survives as the name of its capital city, San Juan.

Geographic Features: Because of his geographical confusion, he called the entire Caribbean archipelago the Indies. Later, after the error was realized, the name was modified to “West Indies” to distinguish them from the “East Indies” in Asia. After a violent clash with the Ciguayo people who refused to trade their weapons, Columbus named their inlet Xamaná (often modernized as Samaná) the Golfo de Las Flechas (“Bay of Arrows”). He often named islands based on the day he saw them or in honor of religious icons. Dominica was named for Sunday (Dominica in Latin), and Trinidad was named for the Holy Trinity.

Other Flora and Fauna When Columbus encountered Caribs smoking pipes, he allegedly thought the pipe itself was called a tavaco. The name eventually shifted to describe the plant being smoked, giving us the word tobacco. He named Costa Rica the “Rich Coast” under the assumption that the gold ornaments worn by the locals meant the land was filled with gold mines (the gold had actually been imported).

From the perspective of indigenous studies, he is often termed a “toponymic colonizer.” A toponym is a place name. By systematically stripping away names like Guanahaní or Xamaná and replacing them with San Salvador or Golfo de Las Flechas, he was practicing “symbolic dispossession.” Renaming is not a neutral act; it is a way to overwrite an existing culture’s map with your own.
 
 

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For National Watermelon Day, August 3rd, try a salted watermelon milkshake.

Salt with watermelon? Actually, as a pinch of salt helps most foods, it’s an old trick to bring out more flavor (here, sweetness) in the watermelon.

This recipe is courtesy of The Milk Shake Factory in Pittsburgh. It requires watermelon sorbet; but if you can’t find it or don’t want to make it (here’s a watermelon sherbet recipe), substitute strawberry or raspberry sorbet.

Or, make an easy watermelon granita with this watermelon granita recipe, minus the basil. No ice cream maker is used; just watermelon, sugar, water, lemon juice and an ice cube tray.

Prep time for the milkshake is 10 minutes.
 
 
RECIPE: SALTED WATERMELON MILKSHAKE

Ingredients For 1 Large Or 2 Small Servings

Salted watermelon milkshake. Photo courtesy The Milk Shake Factory | Pittsburgh.

1. COMBINE the watermelon sherbet, milk, watermelon slices and a pinch of sea salt in a blender. Blend until the sherbet and watermelon slices break down, approximately 45 seconds. Add the soda water and blend 10 seconds more.

2. POUR the mixture into a 20-ounce drinking glass or two 10-ounce glasses. Garnish with mini chocolate chips and skewer the watermelon wedge, or notch it deeply and anchor it to the rim of the glass. Serve immediately.
  

Ice cream sandwich sundae (photo © Grand Hyatt Hotel | NYC).

We love this ice cream sandwich sundae, served at the New York Central Bar and Kitchen, located in the Grand Hyatt Hotel right above Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal.

You can make it at home by adapting New York Central Bar & Kitchen’s recipe with your own favorite flavors.

Theirs combines summery flavors and colors:

 
What’s your preference?
 
 
ICE CREAM SANDWICH HISTORY

According to the New York Times, the American ice cream sandwich was born in the Bowery neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in the early 1899s.

In an article in The New York Tribune in July 1900, the pushcart vendor who was selling the sandwiches was so busy pressing them into a tin mold to order, that he didn’t have time to make change. He insisted that customers pay the exact price of one cent.

The treat was revolutionary: hand-held and portable (the cone had not yet taken hold).

An earlier predecessor, without the wafers, was a slice of vanilla ice cream cut from a larger slab by Italian street vendors in London. It was known as an “okey-pokey,” the English adaptation of the vendors’ Italian phrase, “o che poco,” meaning “oh, how little [money].” The name which gave way to the “Hokey Pokey” song.

The modern ice cream sandwich that we know, a slice of vanilla between two rectangular chocolate wafers, was invented in 1945 by Jerry Newberg, who sold ice cream sandwiches at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.

By the time we were kids, Nestlé’s ice cream sandwich was our favorite treat from the corner grocer’s ice cream case. (Our tastes have evolved to more premium goods.)

Who ever thought the ice cream sandwich of childhood would become this elite?

 
______________

*Source: Sugar and Snow: A History of Ice Cream Making by Jeri Quinzi.
  

We really like this idea from RA Sushi: A shrimp salad with watermelon cubes, kiwi slices, tangerine segments, baby arugula leaves and microgreens (you can substitute sprouts or herbs).

RA Sushi serves it as an entrée, with a Watermelon Margarita to wash it down (the Margarita recipe is below). The fruit salad dressing recipes below are theirs.

The natural juices from the fruits provide the “dressing,” but you can create a citrus vinaigrette, a honey vinaigrette, or simply toss with a bit of extra virgin olive oil and fresh lime juice (with salt and pepper to taste).

Grilling the shrimp adds another flavor dimension, but boiled shrimp work as well. You can substitute crab, lobster, scallops, seared/grilled fish cubes or for vegetarians, grilled tofu.

The fruit salad has a counterpoint of spicy greens (baby arugula, for example), but you can also add a base of lettuce if you’d like more roughage, and you can add heat as well. Use the recipe template below to customize your ideal salad. Aim to use three different fruits of varying colors, to add interest to the dish. Tropical fruits work very well with seafood.

RECIPE: FRUIT SALAD WITH SHRIMP

Customize your recipe by choosing from these groups:

Shrimp and fruit salad. Photo courtesy RA Sushi Restaurant.

 
RECIPE: CITRUS VINAIGRETTE

Ingredients For 1-1/3 Cups

 
Preparation

1. BRING the citrus juice to a boil in a medium saucepan. Lower the heat to a simmer and reduce to 1/3 cup.

2. COMBINE the reduced citrus juice, vinegar, shallot, thyme and zest in a medium bowl. Slowly drizzle the oil into the mixture while whisking until the emulsion is combined and thick. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate until needed.
 
RECIPE: HONEY-LIME VINAIGRETTE

Ingredients For 1-1/3 Cups

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the lime juice and honey in a blender and mix. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil.

2. SEASON as desired.

RECIPE: WATERMELON MARGARITA

Ingredients For 2 Large Cocktails

 
Preparation

1. PURÉE the watermelon in a blender. Add the tequila, triple sec and the juice of 1/2 lime.

1. PURÉE 1-1/2 cups cubed, seeded watermelon in a blender.

2. ADD 1 cup tequila, 1/2 cup orange liqueur and 1/2 cup fresh lime juice , plus 3 cups of ice. Blend until desired consistency is reached.

August is National Blueberry Month. The harvest is full, the prices are at the year’s low, and any food lover should relish the opportunity to eat lots of them. And cook with them. Beyond the all-American blueberry pie, you can make:

 
We’ll focus on some of those tomorrow. Today, we’re starting with dessert: blueberry ice cream and blueberry pound cake. Both are easy to make and won’t keep you in the kitchen for too long.

We have two recipes for you today: Blueberry Ice Cream and Blueberry Pound Cake. Can you make both and serve the pound cake à la mode with the ice cream?

Abso-blueberry-lutely!

> The history of blueberries.

Fresh blueberries should be firm and dry (no leakage or juice stains on the bottom of the container), with smooth skin covered with a silvery white bloom. The color should be deep purple-blue to blue-black. Reddish blueberries aren’t ripe and won’t ripen once they are picked, but you can use them when cooking with added sugar.

Refrigerate fresh blueberries, either in their original plastic pack or in a covered bowl or container. Before using, wash the berries, removing any stems, leaves, and smashed fruit, plus berries that look soft, shriveled, or dots of white mold.
 
 
RECIPE #1: BLUEBERRY ICE CREAM

Ingredients For 1 Quart

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the blueberries, sugar, and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil over moderate heat. Mash the softened blueberries and stir with a fork. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.

2. PURÉE the berry mixture and milk in a blender or food processor. When smooth, stir in the cream. Press the purée through a sieve into a bowl. Press on the solids with the back of a spoon to extract the remaining juices.

3. COVER and chill the mixture for at least 2 hours, or until cold. You can make the recipe up to this step, up to 1 day in advance.

4. PROCESS the cold mixture in an ice cream maker, according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer it to an airtight container and place in the freezer to harden.
 

[3] Enjoy the summer’s fresh blueberries (photo © Good Eggs).

This easy recipe is from QVC’s chef David Venable. David’s tip: “Be sure that all of your ingredients are at room temperature before beginning. And, only use fresh blueberries in the sauce; it will have a better consistency.”

The recipe is easy because David uses a pound cake mix. We made our own pound cake recipe from scratch, adding just the cup of blueberries and the sour cream from the cake ingredients below.

Ingredients For 6-8 Servings

Ingredients For The Cake

 
Ingredients For The Blueberry Sauce

 
Garnish

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a loaf pan. Set aside.

2. PREPARE the cake: Toss the blueberries with flour in a bowl. Set aside.

3. PLACE the remaining ingredients in a food processor and process for 3 minutes. Scrape the sides and process for 3 more minutes. Stir in the flour-coated blueberries with a spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45–55 minutes.

4. MAKE the sauce: Place all the ingredients into a food processor and process for 4–6 minutes. Drizzle the sauce on top of the sliced pound cake. Top with whipped cream and serve; or make it a la mode with a scoop of ice cream.
 
 

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