All About Pimento Cheese: Its History, Legacy & Fresh Ways to Enjoy It

Editor’s note: Born and raised in California, pimento cheese is something of a mystery to me. A Southern specialty that didn’t originate in the South, the ingredients and even the spelling (is it pimento or pimiento?) are sources of controversy. Thankfully we have long time contributor and admitted pimento cheese fan to school us. 

Restaurant trend-spotter Flavor & The Menu lists pimento cheese among its Top 10 Trends of 2021, finding it across the country in just about every menu category where cheese is welcome. (Which is to say, every category.) To this, I give an enthusiastic thumbs up. Whether tucked into deviled eggs, adorning a cheeseburger, mixed into biscuits, or even baked into lasagna, pimento cheese brings a dose of nostalgia—along with its signature gooey tang—to the festivities. It’s this very “versatility and comforting charm,” reported by Flavor & The Menu author Rob Corliss, that has put pimento cheese on the up and up nationwide. 

Even here among serious cheese aficionados, I know this is a safe space where one may freely admit, despite the somewhat humble leanings of pimento cheese, that she unabashedly loves the stuff.

amy_buthod Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

amy_buthod Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

In its simplest expression, pimento cheese is a composed spread associated with Southern cuisine typically made of shredded cheddar or processed cheese, mayonnaise, and (sweet) pimento peppers, typically eaten with crackers or vegetables, or in a crustless sandwich. Spelling and culinary variations abound: certain places may refer to it as pimento cheese, pimiento cheese, or even by the brand name of companies that produce it. Most of the peppers are derived from the Spanish pimiento, but pimento is the more common English word for the peppers used in the cheese. Culinary variations and matters of individual preference may see other components added to the base recipe, especially cream cheese, hot sauce, cayenne pepper, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, onions, and garlic. Much like sweet tea, every Southern cook believes his or her recipe for pimento cheese is the best, and, also like sweet tea, every last one of them is basically correct, because it’s all good.

 A Yankee pedigree

However, in an article by Serious Eats’ author Robert Moss,  he posits that the “dirty little secret” of pimento cheese is that its heritage begins, not in the deep south with deeper family traditions, but in none other than New York City, “as a product of industrial food manufacturing and mass marketing.” Pimento cheese was born in the late 1800s, as a convergence of newly manufactured American cream cheese, newly canned and imported Spanish peppers, and the newly minted term “home economics,” which favored canned goods for their ease and orderliness. “Domestic scientists”—as these turn-of-the-century feminist homemakers called themselves—discovered that the mixture of cream cheese and canned pimentos made for a quick and appealing sandwich spread.

 

But even in pointing out its Yankee pedigree, Moss admits that all good food stories have elements of migration, and that pimento cheese’s story “is one of redemption, of a wayward factory child adopted by a good Southern family, scrubbed up nice, and invited to Sunday dinner.” At a time when imported, canned pimentos were considered a luxury, farmers in Georgia started cultivating those sweet peppers closer to home, and, along with their expanded availability, came the popularity of pimento cheese outside of the Northeast. At some point, shredded cheese got invited to the party, packaged cream cheese got swapped for mayonnaise, which was often homemade, and the spread was elevated from a thing of convenience to a labor of love.

Stacey Little of Southern Bite, named in 2019 by Southern Kitchen as one of the top Southern food bloggers to follow, acknowledges the New York influence in pimento cheese while maintaining its spiritual connection to Southerners: “like so many food things us Southerners hold dear - deviled eggs, fried green tomatoes, pimento cheese - we just hold on to it so tight until we can claim it as our own.” 

Echoing Corliss’s sentiments above, Little also notes the versatility of the dish, given its relatively mild flavor and rich texture, for its appeal to chefs and recipe developers looking for a jumping off point for experimentation. Little’s website Southern Bite lists no fewer than 9 recipes centered on pimento cheese, including familiar applications like deviled eggs and mac and cheese, but also unique expressions such as Tomato Cobbler with Pimento Cheese Biscuits, Pimento Cheese Hush Puppies, and Baked Ham and Pimento Cheese Egg Cups.

Little’s own recipe for pimento cheese includes both the mayonnaise element, and—in a move he notes would “make many Southerners clutch their pearls”—also adds a dose of cream cheese. “It's more about authenticity to me,” says Little. “It's actually how it was originally made. Now I'll eat pimento cheese any way you serve it up, but a little cream cheese helps to make it smooth and super creamy.”

 

Southern Bite’s Southern Pimento Cheese Recipe

Photo courtesy of Stacey Little of Southern Bite

Photo courtesy of Stacey Little of Southern Bite

1 lb block sharp cheddar cheese

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

½ cup mayonnaise

1 (4-ounce) jar chopped pimentos, drained

1 tablespoon grated onion

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon granulated garlic (or garlic powder)

Salt to taste

 

Instructions:

  1. Grate the cheese using a box grater.

  2. Combine shredded cheddar, softened cream cheese, mayo, drained pimentos, grates onion, black pepper, and garlic. Stir to combine.

  3. Add salt to taste. Allow to rest at least several hours in the refrigerator to allow the flavors to develop.

Pamela Vachon