pimento

(pĭ-mĕn'tō)

1. See allspice.
2. Variant of pimiento.

[Spanish pimiento, red or green pepper, pepper plant, from pimienta, black pepper, pepper fruit, from Late Latin pigmenta, pl. of pigmentum, vegetable juice, condiment, pigment, from Latin, pigment, from pingere, to paint.]

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A type of pepper, Capsicum annuum, grown for its thick, sweet-fleshed red fruit. A member of the plant order Polemoniales, pimento is of American origin, and gets its name from the Spanish word designating all sweet peppers. In the United States, however, the term pimento generally refers to the heart-shaped varieties (cultivars) grown for canning and used for stuffing olives and flavoring foods. Georgia is the only important pimento-producing state. See also Pepper; Solanales.

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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.

Contents 1 Stuffing 2 Other uses 3 See also 4 References

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.

v d e Capsicum cultivars C. annuum Aleppo Anaheim Ancho Banana pepper Bell pepper Cascabel Cayenne Chilaca Chungyang Red Pepper Chiltepin Cubanelle De árbol Dundicut Fresno Guajillo Hungarian wax Italian sweet Jalapeño Mirasol Macho Mulato New Mexico (Anaheim) Paprika Pasilla Peperoncini Peter Piquín Pimento Poblano Puya Serrano Shishito Tien Tsin C. chinense Adjuma Ají Limo Ají dulce Datil Fatalii Habanero Hainan Yellow Lantern Chili Madame Jeanette Naga Jolokia Red Savina Habanero Scotch bonnet C. frutescens African Bird's Eye Bird's Eye chili Malagueta Tabasco C baccatum Ají Bishop's Crown Brazilian Starfish Lemon Drop Piquanté C. pubescens Rocoto Pepper

This Solanales article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v d e

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - piment, allehånde

Nederlands (Dutch)
piment(boom), (rode) paprika

Français (French)
n. - piment doux, piment de la Jamaïque, pimenta (arbre)

Deutsch (German)
n. - Pimentbaum, Nelkenpfeffer

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (φυτολ.) αγριοκανέλα, ψευδοκινάμωμο

Italiano (Italian)
pimento

Português (Portuguese)
n. - pimentão-doce (f)

Русский (Russian)
душистый перец

Español (Spanish)
n. - pimienta de Jamaica, pimiento morrón

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - pimento, kryddpeppar

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
红色柿子椒, 多香果

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 紅色柿子椒, 多香果

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 피멘토나무, 그 열매로 만든 향신료

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - ピーマン, スペイントウガラシ

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) البيمنت : فلفل حلو‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮פימנטו (מין פלפל)‬

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