Pimento cheese is a southern mainstay. It is sometimes called the pâté of the South or Carolina caviar. In its simplest form, cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, pimentos, and basic seasonings like salt and pepper are mixed until combined. A nickname like pâté of the South would lead people to believe that pimento cheese was born and raised in the U.S. South.
The ingredients for pimento cheese originated in the 1870s. Dairy farmers in New York produced American Neufchâtel cheese, a soft, crumbly, spreadable cheese of French origin. American Neufchâtel cheese morphed into the cream cheese shmear we find on bagels today. Pimentos began arriving from Spain to the United States in the 1870s. Pimentos were considered a luxury imported good and were paired with cream cheese to produce pimento cheese.
Pimentos became so popular and in demand in the 1910s that farmers in Georgia began to plant and grow them. Georgia has a suitable climate for growing peppers as it is warm with sandy soil and has a long growing season. California farmers began growing pimentos, and the two states competed to be the top pimento-producing state. Georgia used festivals and pageants to promote pimentos.
A 1962 oil painting by Irma Stern called Pimento Pickers, featuring four Spanish women picking peppers. The pimentos used in the United States mostly came from Spain until American farmers began planting pimentos in the 1910s.
Courtesy of Mutual Art.
This 1908 recipe appeared in Good Housekeeping. It was one of the earliest recipes for pimento cheese, combining cream cheese, minced pimentos, flavored mustard, and chives.
Courtesy of HathiTrust.
48 Tasty Recipes made with Sunshine Pimientos. This is a 1934 recipe booklet produced by Pomona Products Company in Griffin, Georgia.
Courtesy of Collectors Weekly.
Canned and jarred pimentos from Sunshine Brand, packed by Pomona Products Company in Georgia.
Courtesy of Griffin Spalding Historical Society.
By the 1930s, Georgia was the top pimento-producing state. Pimento production in Georgia can be attributed to lower pay rates for southern agricultural workers. Georgia canners also made less (20 cents an hour) than their California counterparts, who made 38 cents an hour. So, it was cheaper to grow pimentos in the South, which undoubtedly helped contribute to the southernization of pimento cheese.
Pimento cheese became a product of the South when manufacturers noticed its popularity and began producing it commercially. Pimento cheese sandwiches became common, and even soldiers during World War I ate pimento cheese. Before World War II, pimento cheese was mentioned in newspapers nationwide, yet none of those newspapers described it as southern. After World War II, pre-packaged pimento cheese lost popularity, but home cooks began making the caviar of the South themselves. Southern cooks adapted the recipe, using hoop cheese to replace cheddar and mayonnaise to replace cream cheese.
The lunch menu for the United States House of Representatives Restaurant in December 1950. Pimento cheese sandwiches were on the menu.
Courtesy of the Culinary Institute of America.
The delectable spread known as pimento cheese may have lost some popularity, but southern cooks kept the spread alive by making it at home. Food writer and critic Hanna Raskin attributes the popularity of pimento cheese in the South to marketing from Duke’s Mayonnaise. Meanwhile, Kathleen Purvis, former food editor for The Charlotte Observer, theorizes that pimento cheese made with hoop cheese may have grown in popularity because hoop cheese doesn’t spoil as quickly and could take the summer heat. Pimento cheese’s popularity in the South is also linked to the U.S. Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia. The Masters have sold pimento cheese sandwiches for decades, ever since Hodges and Olga Herndon brought homemade sandwiches to the tournament in the late 1940s and sold them to other spectators. At the Masters, attendees can get a pimento cheese sandwich for $1.50.
Pimento cheese sandwiches are still a crowd favorite at the U.S. Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia.
Courtesy of Skratch.
A corndog topped with pimento cheese at the Pimento Cheese Festival.
Courtesy of Downtown Cary Park.
Today, the most common cheese found in the pâté of the South is cheddar cheese. Pimento cheese is peppered across menus as an appetizer and a burger/sandwich topping. Some people make pimento cheese meatloaf, pimento cheese rangoon, and pimento cheese empanadas. Cary, North Carolina, hosts the nation’s only annual Pimento Cheese Festival, where people can taste pimento cheese and enjoy live music and local vendors.
Carolina caviar, better known as pimento cheese.
Courtesy of Carol VanHook. CC BY 2.0.
