The Pimento pepper (also known as Pimiento or Cherry pepper) is a classic sweet, mild variety of *Capsicum annuum* famous for its heart-shaped red pods. It is the traditional stuffing for Spanish green olives and the signature ingredient in Southern pimento cheese.
Pimento peppers are small-to-medium, heart-shaped fruits (3–4 inches / 7–10 cm long and 2–3 inches / 5–8 cm wide) with thick, juicy, succulent flesh and a bright red color when fully ripe. They start green and ripen to vibrant red. The skin is smooth and the walls are thicker than many hot peppers, giving them a meaty texture. Plants are compact and productive. Heat is extremely low (100–500 SHU) — essentially sweet-pepper territory and 5–80× milder than a jalapeño — with almost no noticeable burn for most people.
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Pimento peppers (pimiento in Spanish) trace their roots to the Capsicum annuum varieties brought from the Americas to Europe during the Columbian Exchange. Spanish farmers selected and refined the heart-shaped, sweet type, which became a staple in Spanish cuisine. In the late 19th/early 20th century, canned Spanish pimentos were imported to the United States and quickly became popular for stuffing olives and making pimento cheese — a Southern U.S. classic. Georgia emerged as a major U.S. growing region in the 1910s–1950s, with thousands of acres cultivated and dozens of processing plants. Although production later declined due to labor costs, the pimento remains an iconic mild sweet pepper in both Spanish and American Southern food traditions.
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Reach out →Sweet and succulent with a rich, aromatic flavor that is more pronounced than a standard red bell pepper. The thick flesh is juicy and slightly fruity, with no significant heat.
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