What Is Pimento Cheese? Pimento Fritters in Panama City Beach

Pimento cheese is a Southern spread of shredded cheese, mayonnaise and diced red pimento peppers. Big Mama's PCB, 10071 Hutchison Blvd, Panama City Beach, fries it into Pimento Fritters for $13 and serves them with pepper jelly. Lunch and dinner daily by posted hours. Call (850) 588-5085 to confirm.

What is pimento cheese?

It is a cold spread, not a melted sauce. Most versions start with shredded cheese and mayonnaise, then add pimentos, the small red peppers that give the spread its flecks of color. Past that, every kitchen and every grandmother has a version.

People eat it on crackers, on celery, in a sandwich on white bread, or on a burger. A first-timer may be surprised to see it fried on a restaurant menu.

Where did pimento cheese come from?

The South gets the credit, but the story starts elsewhere. Atlanta Magazine reports that Emily Wallace, who wrote her thesis on the spread, traced it to New York in the early twentieth century. Southern farmers later grew pimentos themselves, and the Museum of the New South's Southern Tables series covers how the spread became a regional staple.

Writers have called it the "caviar of the South" for years. We cannot settle where it was first made. What we can say is that it now has a firm place on Southern menus.

What are the pimento fritters at Big Mama's PCB?

The fritters are fried pimento cheese, dipped in pepper jelly. They are $13 on the all-day menu, in the appetizer section, and they are one of the dishes people mention when they talk about the starters.

The pairing is the point: a hot, cheesy fried fritter and a jelly made from peppers. We do not publish the recipe for either one.

What else goes with it?

If the table is sharing, the fritters make a good opener next to one or two other starters. These are all on the all-day menu:

• Fried Green Tomatoes, $14
• Fried Pickles, $12
• Chicken Wings (10), $16
• Catfish Nuggets, $12
• Tuna Dip, $16
• Gizzards, $10

Fried food in one basket, a dip in another. Then move on to a plate: bone-in fried chicken from $15, country fried steak at $16, or a catfish po'boy at $15. Sides are $4 and cornbread is $2.

How do you order the fritters?

Walk in for lunch or dinner, or order ahead on Toast and pick them up. The all-day menu lists every appetizer and price, and the full menu shows what the kitchen serves across lunch, dinner and brunch.

Prices are cash prices, and a 3% card fee is added. Parties of 6 or more carry an 18% gratuity. Hours are posted but still being confirmed, so call (850) 588-5085 before you drive.

What to order

Never had pimento cheese? Start with the Pimento Fritters. Feeding a table, add Fried Green Tomatoes or Fried Pickles. For a full meal after the appetizers, fried chicken with two sides is the plate reviewers mention first.

Big Mama's PCB is at 10071 Hutchison Blvd, Panama City Beach, a few minutes' drive from Pier Park, with a large free lot. Call (850) 588-5085 to confirm hours, or order ahead on Toast.