Pimento Cheese
The caviar of the South - a sharp, creamy cheese spread studded with sweet pimento peppers.
- 8 ozsharp cheddar cheese(freshly grated)
- 4 ozcream cheese(softened)
- 1/4 cupmayonnaise
- 4 ozpimentos(one jar, drained and diced)
- 1/8 tspcayenne pepper
- 1/4 tspgarlic powder
- 1/4 tsponion powder
- 1/4 tspkosher salt
- 1/4 tspblack pepper
Keeps refrigerated up to 1 week. Bring to room temperature before serving for best spreadability and flavor.
- 1Beat cream cheese and mayonnaise until smooth
- 2Add grated cheddar and mix until combined
- 3Fold in diced pimentos
- 4Season with cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper
- 5Mix until well combined but still has some texture
- 6Refrigerate at least 1 hour to let flavors meld
- 7Taste and adjust seasoning before serving
Never use pre-shredded cheese - the anti-caking agents prevent proper binding. Hand-grated creates better texture than food processor. Some traditionalists add a splash of pickle juice. Let it sit overnight for best flavor development.
Pimento cheese is one of the American South's most distinctive regional foods, a preparation with a precisely traceable 20th-century origin. The key ingredient — jarred pimentos, sweet red peppers packed in brine — became commercially available in the United States in the early 1900s after Spanish and Italian immigrants introduced pimento canning technology, and American food companies began producing them at scale. Early versions of pimento cheese appeared in Northern food publications around 1908–1910 as a fashionable spread using cream cheese and canned pimentos, but it was in the American South that the combination found its permanent home. Southern cooks replaced cream cheese with sharp cheddar, added Duke's or Hellmann's mayonnaise, and made the spread their own, transforming what began as a Northern novelty into an institution served at church suppers, school cafeterias, and family tables throughout the region. The Augusta National Golf Club's pimento cheese sandwich — made on white bread and sold for a nominal price at the Masters Tournament — became one of the most famous uses of the spread; it has been served at Augusta National since the 1950s and is considered a pillar of the tournament's tradition of affordable, accessible food. Today pimento cheese is recognized as the unofficial condiment of the American South, with regional variations from Appalachia to Louisiana.