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A pimiento or pimento or cherry pepper is a variety of large, red, heart-shaped
"Sweet" (i.e., neither sour nor savory) pimiento peppers are the familiar red stuffing found in prepared Spanish or Greek green
A pimiento or pimento or cherry pepper is a variety of large, red, heart-shaped chili pepper
Chili peppers, also spelled chile or chilli ( ), are varieties of fruit#Berries, berry-fruit plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for their pungency. They are used as a spice to ...
(''Capsicum annuum
''Capsicum annuum'' is a fruiting plant from the family Solanaceae (nightshades), within the genus Capsicum which is native to the northern regions of South America and to southwestern North America. The plant produces Berry, berries of many color ...
'') that measures long and wide (medium, elongate).
Description and habitat
Pimientos can have various colors including yellow, green, red, and maroon. Like most peppers, immature pods are green and develop other colors as they reach maturity. The flesh of the pimiento is sweet, succulent, and more aromatic than that of the redbell pepper
The bell pepper (also known as sweet pepper, paprika, pepper, capsicum or, in some parts of the US midwest, mango) is the fruit of plants in the Grossum Group of the species ''Capsicum annuum''. Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in diff ...
. Some varieties of the pimiento type are hot, including the Floral Gem and Santa Fe Grande varieties.
Peppers grow in hardiness zones 4 through 12.
Name
Spanish and Portuguese both come fromLatin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
("pigment
A pigment is a powder used to add or alter color or change visual appearance. Pigments are completely or nearly solubility, insoluble and reactivity (chemistry), chemically unreactive in water or another medium; in contrast, dyes are colored sub ...
; coloring") and came to be used for bell pepper
The bell pepper (also known as sweet pepper, paprika, pepper, capsicum or, in some parts of the US midwest, mango) is the fruit of plants in the Grossum Group of the species ''Capsicum annuum''. Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in diff ...
s. The English borrowed "pimiento" and "pimento" as loanword
A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...
s for what is distinguished in Spanish as and in Portuguese as .
Note that in Jamaican English
Jamaican English, including Jamaican Standard English, is the variety of English native to Jamaica and is the official language of the country. A distinction exists between Jamaican English and Jamaican Patois (a creole language), though ...
''pimento'' usually refers to allspice (''Pimenta dioica'').
Uses
"Sweet" (i.e., neither sour nor savory) pimiento peppers are the familiar red stuffing found in prepared Spanish or Greek green olive
The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...
s. Originally, the pimiento was hand-cut into tiny pieces, then hand-stuffed into each olive to balance out the olive's otherwise strong, salty flavor. Despite the popularity of the combination, this production method was very costly and time-intensive.
More recently, for ease of production, pimientos are often puréed, then formed into tiny strips with the help of a natural gum (such as sodium alginate or guar gum
Guar gum, also called guaran, is a galactomannan polysaccharide extracted from guar beans that has thickening and stabilizing properties useful in food, feed, and industrial applications. The guar seeds are mechanically dehusked, hydrated, mi ...
). This allows olive stuffing to be mechanized, speeding the process and lowering production costs.
The fruits are typically used fresh as a salad ingredient, cooked, or pickled.
Pimientos are commonly used for making pimento cheese. It is also used for making pimento loaf, a type of processed sandwich meat.
See also
*List of Capsicum cultivars
This is a list of ''Capsicum'' cultivars belonging to the five major species of cultivated peppers (genus ''Capsicum''): ''Capsicum annuum, C. annuum'', ''Capsicum chinense, C. chinense'', ''Capsicum baccatum, C. baccatum'', ''Capsicum frutescens ...
References
*''Webster's Dictionary of the English Language – Unabridged Encyclopedic Edition'', Publishers International Press, New York, 1977. {{Capsicum Cultivars Capsicum cultivars Chili peppers Spanish words and phrases