What are pimentos made from?

A pimento, or cherry pepper with a bright red color and sweet flavor, is a small member of the nightshade family. With a Scoville heat rating of between 100 and 500 units, pimentos are one of the mildest chili peppers.

Due to their sweetness, whole pimentos can be served stuffed as an appetizer or pickled for use as a condiment. However, they are more frequently featured in cheese and luncheon meat loaves and as the stuffing in Spanish and manzanilla olives. Interestingly, the compound used to hold these small pepper pieces in place, sodium alginate, has been found to combat heartburn and some forms of acid reflux.