NOTE: This post was updated on 2/1/22 to include new photo and information. It was originally published on 9/20/13. If you’ve ever tried southern pimento cheese, or enjoyed pimento stuffed green olives, you have already tried the pimento pepper in pickled form. The word “pimiento” translates to “pepper” from Spanish, but here we refer to a more specific pepper called the “pimento”. The pimento pepper (often spelled pimiento) is also called the cherry pepper. It is a sweet pepper measuring 3-4 inches long and 2-3 inches wide with a bright red color and shaped like a heart. You might be most familiar with the pimento as the famous pepper used to stuff olives. Interestingly, both “pimento” from Portuguese and “pimiento” from Spanish derive from the Latin “pigmentum”, which means “pigment”. The word “pimento” became used as a sort of general term for peppers long ago and even more generalized to include black pepper. There are some varieties with heat, including the Santa Fe Grande and Floral Gem varieties. They are fun for stuffing, as they are good enough in size, and also great for dehydrating and grinding into chili powders. In fact, the common spice, paprika, is made from dried pimento peppers and other other mild or sweet peppers. For heat and flavor comparison, see the Piquillo Pepper, which are different in shape, but similar in many other ways. Try some of these sauce or dip recipes with your harvest of pimentos.
Pimento Cheese Muhamarra (Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Dip) Romesco Sauce Peperonata Recipe Ajvar Sweet Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
Try pickling your own peppers for a quick fix. For fresh pimentos, bell peppers are probably the easiest to find as a substitute, but any sweeter red pepper variety will do, such as the piquillo pepper, corno di toro pepper, or any Italian sweet pepper. I even used some of them to make Patty a mild “hot” sauce that she used up pretty quickly.
When to Pick Pimentos
You can normally find pimentos from late summer through early fall during growing season. Pick them when they are deep, deep red color and very firm to the touch. They can be stored or preserved like any other peppers.
