Pimento

For the unincorporated town, see Pimento, Indiana.

For the Jamaican use of the term, see Allspice.

Pimento

Pickled cherry peppers
Heat	Mild

A pimento or cherry pepper is a variety of large, red, heart-shaped chili pepper (Capsicum annuum) that measures 3 to 4 inches (7 to 10 cm) long and 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7 cm) wide (medium, elongate). The flesh of the pimento is sweet, succulent and more aromatic than that of the red bell pepper. Some varieties of the pimento type are hot, including the Floral Gem and Santa Fe Grande varieties. "Pimiento" is the Spanish word. "Pimento" or "pimentão" are Portuguese words for "bell pepper", while "pimenta" refers both to chili peppers and to black peppercorns. It is typically used fresh, or pickled and jarred. The pimento has one of the lowest Scoville scale ratings of any chili pepper.

Stuffing

Green Spanish olives stuffed with pimento visible

These sweet pimento peppers are also the familiar red stuffing found in prepared Spanish green olives. The pimento was originally hand cut into small pieces and hand stuffed in olives to complement the strong flavor of the olive, however this method was very time intensive. In the industrial era the cut pimento was shot via hydraulic pump through the olive getting rid of the pit.

For ease of production,^[1] pimento is sometimes puréed and formed with the help of a natural gum (such as sodium alginate or guar gum) into strips. This allows the olive stuffing to be completed by a machine, lowering the cost of production. However, guar (an annual legume mostly produced in India) may inadvertently make the olives less accessible to consumers with peanut allergies, as those individuals may have a cross-reaction to the guar. This leaves sodium alginate as a more universal choice.

Other uses

Pimentos are commonly used for making pimento cheese, a sandwich filling in the Southern United States and the Philippines. Also used for making pimento loaf.

See also

• List of capsicum cultivars

References

• Webster's Dictionary of the English Language - Unabridged Encyclopedic Edition, Publishers International Press, New York, 1977.

1. ^ Patent description of stuffing manufacturing.

This Solanales article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Chili peppers Portuguese loanwords Spanish loanwords Jamaican cuisine Solanales stubs Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР Synonyms: Allspice, Jamaica pepper Dan Grimaldi Howard Gardner Look at other dictionaries: pimento — UK [pɪˈmentəʊ] / US [pɪˈmentoʊ] or pimiento UK [ˌpɪmɪˈentəʊ] / UK [ˌpɪmˈjentəʊ] / US [ˌpɪmˈjentoʊ] noun [countable] Word forms pimento : singular pimento plural pimentos a small red vegetable that is a type of pepper …   English dictionary pimento — s. m. 1.  [Botânica] Planta solanácea cujo fruto, mais ou menos picante, é empregado como condimento. 2. Fruto desta planta. 3. como um pimento: vermelho, corado, atrapalhado …   Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Pimento — Pi*men to, n. [Sp. pimiento, pimienta; cf. Pg. pimenta, F. piment; all fr. L. pigmentum a paint, pigment, the juice of plants; hence, something spicy and aromatic. See {Pigment}.] 1. (Bot.) Allspice; applied both to the tree and its fruit. See… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English pimento — (n.) 1680s, from Sp. pimiento green or red pepper, also pimienta black pepper, from L.L. pigmenta, pl. of pigmentum vegetable juice, from L. pigmentum pigment, from stem of pingere to paint (see PAINT (Cf. paint)). So called because it added a… …   Etymology dictionary pimento — [pə men′tō] n. pl. pimentos [Sp pimiento < L pigmentum, lit., PIGMENT (in VL & ML, plant juice, spiced drink, spice)] 1. a sweet variety of the capsicum pepper, or its red, bell shaped fruit, used as a relish, as a stuffing for olives, etc. 2 …   English World dictionary pimento — pi·mén·to s.m. 1a. CO spezia piccante, dal forte profumo e con aroma nel quale si mischiano sentori di cannella, chiodi di garofano e noce moscata, usata spec. nella cucina orientale per aromatizzare Sinonimi: pimento della Giamaica, pimento vero …   Dizionario italiano pimento — Pimiento Pi*mien to, n. [Sp.] The Spanish sweet pepper, the fruit of which is used as a vegetable, to stuff olives, etc.; also the fruit itself. Also called {pimento}. [Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English pimento — pi·men·to pə ment (.)ō n, pl pimentos or pimento ALLSPICE …   Medical dictionary pimento — • katve, pimento, siimes, varjo, varjopaikka …   Suomi sanakirja synonyymejä pimento — [[t]pɪme̱ntoʊ[/t]] pimentos N VAR A pimento is a small red pepper …   English dictionary 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”