In the south, we make and devour Pimento Cheese. The store-bought stuff is an abomination and would never grace the shelves of our refrigerator! My dear husband is a purist when it comes to making it, and does so in the time-honored method used by his wonderful mother (who I called Granny). She grated the cheese onto a plate, put in some diced pimentos and “mashed” them together with a fork. The necessary mayonnaise and black pepper was then added.
Our son (who lives way up north in the big city of Boston) has recently developed a taste for what some people call “Carolina Caviar” and wanted to mix up a batch but the family recipe was a little too vague (add a pinch of this and a handful of this). Since I was making some tonight I told him I’d document it and try to keep track of the ingredients.
I am a rebel and don’t use a plate but a (gasp!) food processor. Hey, I’m a busy lady! I also break with tradition and add other ingredients. Many people do, just not my purist husband. Wait, actually, he has added a pinch of horseradish, so he’s making strides.
Not the usual media and subject matter I write about here, but since Young Son encourages me to blog (even if it’s not about my own artwork) and he needed a recipe, I combined the tasks.
It’s good on crackers, celery, but the best is toasted on sandwich bread, IMHO!
The Art of Joy A. McGugan 
Love the Blog…keep writing and painting! So…Mama made pimento cheese just like Granny, a plate and a fork and that’s how I do it! I’m too lazy to drag out food processor and then have to deal with cleaning it! I guess if I was making a huge batch for a crowd, I’d might consider using it. I also NEVER use pre-grated cheese in the bags, I grate it myself from a block. Loved reading about pimento cheese. I can see both the special women that were part of our lives making it now ! They taught us well!
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They did teach us well, in many aspects! My biggest regret concerning Granny is not learning how to make pastry from her! Thanks for the warm fuzzy about my writing, it is the most difficult thing I do! My email signature has a Hopper quote that says “If I could say it in words there’d be no reason to paint” but Will is very supportive of the blog and it’s benefits to my painting, so here I am, trying to put words together!
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