The Masters: Golf and the $1.50 Pimento Cheese Sandwich

Augusta, Georgia~ The Masters is golf's counterpart to the World Series and the Super Bowl. Azaleas border manicured greens and majestic pines remind guests they are in Georgia. Tradition is hallowed and deeply manitained: the Green Jacket, the legacy of Bobby Jones and a welcoming spirit rooted in hospitality. Tickets? Always sold out. Lodging is expensive and nearly unobtainable.

Pimento Cheese at The Masters--$1.50.Photo byDown South Today

Food is a different matter. Meet the Pimento Cheese sandwich. This Deep South delicacy, a Masters tradition, is still priced at $1.50, and comes in a green wrapper complete with the famous tournament logo.

The great Southern food authority Richard Lewis, offered his insights about Pimento Cheese: ““It’s Northern born and Southern bred,” he revealed.

Richard Lewis: "Ready to make some Pimento Cheese."Photo byDown South Today

Lewis, a Mississippi native and LSU graduate is now retired from Virginia tourism and has an almost encyclopedic knowledge about Southern food. “If there is one certain homemade spread that has visited nearly every Southern picnic, garden club meeting, or church potluck,” he told me, “it’s Pimento Cheese. Every Southerner’s mother, grandmother, and aunt made it with recipes passed down through generations.” He added that, “it’s as Southern as Mayhaw jelly.”

According to Lewis, Pimento Cheese, with a cream cheese base, originated in rural New York in the late 19th century. “Then the South got hold of it, replacing cream cheese with cheddar, keeping the Spanish pimento pepper, adding mayonnaise to hold it together, and a star was born.”

Delicious, easy to make, and incredibly versatile, Pimento Cheese is the go-to spread in the South.

Store-brought Pimento Cheese ranges from good to not-so-good. But Gayle Harris, a retired lawyer in Brentwood, Tennessee grew up in Decatur, Georgia and has precious memories of her mother making Pimento Cheese regularly. Like Richard Lewis, she finds South Carolina’s Palmetto Cheese a superior product. “Virginia-made Birdie’s comes in six delicious varieties,” Lewis said, adding that Greensboro, North Carolina “gives us My Three Sons, which Southern Living tabbed as its favorite in 2022.”

The spread is found on restaurant menus throughout the South. Pimento Cheese burgers are popular as are grilled Pimento Cheese sandwiches. Fancy places even serve it as an appetizer.

Recipes for Pimento Cheese abound. Richard Lewis revealed that he adds a “touch of Grey Poupon.” Added to celery stalks for appetizers, “you know good Southern dishes don’t have to be born here, just raised here.”

Doc's Original Georgia Pimento Cheese-Photo byDown South Today

Doc’s Pimento Cheese

2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, (shredded from the block)

1 cup smoked Gouda cheese, (shredded from the block)

½ cup Duke’s mayonnaise

4-ounce jar pimento peppers, drained and diced

1 tablespoon onion, very finely minced

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper ¼ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

Note: Blend by stirring with wooden utensil. Never use an electric blender.