Pimento peppers are a type of red pepper. They are sweet and have very mild heat.

These peppers are popularly used fresh as a stuffing for olives, but in some places, they are sometimes dried and ground to make a less pungent and sweeter tasting paprika.

Allspice is a popular spice in Caribbean cuisine, and it is also known as Pimento.

Even though both products unrelated, allspice is often labeled as pimento and this could be confusing.

However, differentiating between both products is very simple.

The difference between pimento peppers and allspice is that allspice is the dried unripe berry of a tropical tree known as Piementa dioica while Pimento peppers are cultivars of the capsicum annum specie.

In this post, we are going to discuss more of the differences between pimento pepper and allspice.

Allspice vs. pimento

Allspice are dried brown berries with a rough surface while pimento peppers are red heart-shaped peppers with a smooth surface

Pimento peppers are one of the least pungent peppers and they have a sweet taste.

Allspice has a unique complex flavor that is similar to a mixture of cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg.

They also belong to entirely different plant families.

Allspice belong to the myrtle family and is closely related to cloves. Pimento peppers are a type of chili pepper but with less pungency than the others, they belong to the nightshade family.

Allspice is used in seasoning blends while pimento could be used to make paprika, stuffed olives and other products.

What is pimento pepper?

Pimento peppers are also known as cherry peppers or pimientos.

These peppers are native to South and Central America.

They are capsicum annum pepper that are sweet and heart-shaped. 

Pimento peppers are about 3 inches in diameter and the fruits are actually berries.

They are a type of red chili peppers but have a very mild pungency, they have a scoville heat unit that is between 100 to 500.

Pimento peppers are grouped together with less pungent peppers as sweet pepper

They is used as a stuffing for olives, or to make cheese.

These peppers could also be used for sweet paprika which can also be combined with other spices to produce spice blends.

What is allspice?

The allspice is the dried unripe fruit of a tropical tree known as piementa dioica(piementa)

Allspice is often known as pimento or Jamaican pepper.

It is native to the West Indies and Central America. It also belongs to the myrtle family and is related to cloves.

The fruits are berries picked green but become brown when they are dried. They are round and hard with a rough surface.

They particularly popularly used in Caribbean cuisine and  middle eastern cuisine.

The flavor of all spice is described as a combination of the flavors of cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Allspice can be used in recipes whole or ground, the whole allspice could also be brined or used to infused drinks with its complex flavor.

They could be used together with other spices to create incredible spice blends such as the pumpkin pie spice or Jamaican jerk seasoning.

Allspice loses some of its flavors after being ground and left for a while so the freshly ground allspice is more preferred.

In conclusion

Pimento could mean either allspice or cherry peppers,

Both pimento pepper and allspice are berries that could be used to make spices for a lot of foods.

However, both are unrelated and used differently to bring different flavor to foods.

So when a a recipe asks for pimento, you have to check to know whether its pimento peppers or allspice that is contained within.