In honor of the Masters this week, here is a wonderful and time honored traditional recipe for Pimento Cheese.
Because of my passion for traditions and recipes, an obvious question I posed .. where does this tradition of serving pimento cheese sandwiches at the Masters come from anyways?
The answer is delightful. In true Southern fashion, families in the South generally had to eat what they grew on their own farms – fruits, vegetables, grains. At that, very few Southern farms made their own cheese, and when they did it was white cheese, like ricotta or mozzarella. Yellow cheese was a delicacy for Southerners, and thus generally reserved for the upper class or special occasions.
That being said, they took the precious yellow cheese, added mayonnaise (again, in true Southern fashion) and pimentos which were grown locally across the South to make the fine spread. The Masters, being the epitome of golf and of the elite, began the time-honored tradition of serving the pimento cheese sandwich – which is one of their most popular by far.
Do enjoy!
