Pimentos

I had a jar of green olives out yesterday when the Kiwi Flatmate came through the kitchen and gasped, "What's that?!"  I thought, no way she doesn't know what olives are.  She haaaaas to know what olives are.  Of course she knew what olives were, but she wanted to know what the red part was inside it.

"The pimento," I said.

"The what?"

"The pimento."

"What's that?"

She stumped me.  What is a pimento?  I'd never thought about it before.  I asked the Jamerican.

"It's the little red thing inside the olive," she said.  

"Yeah, but what is it?"

"I don't know?  Is it a pepper?  Pimento sounds like the Spanish word for pepper."

The Jamerican's boyfriend, the Long Island Guy, came into the room, and we asked him what a pimento was.

"It's cheese," he said.

"It's not cheese!"

"Yeah, it is.  It's cheese.  Pimento cheese."

"It doesn't even taste like cheese!"

I didn't know what exactly what a pimento was, but I was pretty sure that it wasn't cheese.  I know there's pimento cheese, but I think that's cheese with pimentos in it.  I got out my jar of green olives, so that the Long Island Guy could taste it and confirm he thought it tasted like cheese.

The Long Island Guy trying a green olive to see if the pimento tastes like cheese.

After he had finished chewing, I asked if he thought it tasted like cheese.  "I don't know," he said.  "It took so long for you to take the pictures that it disintegrated in my mouth."

A quick google search confirmed that pimentos are indeed peppers as the Jamerican guessed.  The Kiwi Flatmate didn't know if pimentos come in olives in New Zealand or not because she doesn't eat many olives.  Any New Zealanders out there know if there are pimentos in your green olives?

Signed,

American Roomie