How much do you love pimento cheese?

I know some of you aren't exactly reasonable on the subject of pimento cheese. So I'm just going to put this one out there and back up a few steps:

The restaurant Tupelo Honey in Asheville has started something the world is surely waiting for: A Pimento Cheese of the Month Club. For $199 (with free shipping if you order before Mother's Day, not that they're making a hint), you get six shipments, one every other month for a year.

Each shipment includes 16 ounces of "gourmet hand-crafted pimento cheese" from the restaurant, 7 ounces of grass-fed charcuterie from Hickory Nut Gap Farm, and artisanal vegan crackers from Roots and Branches.

For more information or to sign up, go to www.tupelohoneycafe.com.

And before you get all het up, remember: I did not willingly type the words "gourmet hand-crafted pimento cheese." I'm just the messenger, people.

Welcome back cookbook giveaway

It feels like everything is starting over this week: Kids are back to school, and I'm back at work after a late-summer week off.

Let's celebrate by celebrating a new N.C. author. I interviewed Sandra A. Gutierrez of Cary back when I wrote about putting an international spin on potato salad for the Fourth of July.

Gutierrez' first book has just been released by UNC Press: "The New Southern-Latino Table" is a lovely, hardcover book with lots of color photos and recipes that celebrate the overlaps between Latin American and Southern food. Looking through it, I noticed her interesting take on pimento cheese, Pimento and Cheese Chilaquiles, a simple tortilla casserole made with a pimento-cheese inspired sauce. It would be a great recipe to keep on hand during the school year. You can assemble the casserole in advance, refrigerate it and back it when you get home.

Here's the recipe, and your chance to win a copy of "The New Southern-Latino Table." Email me at kpurvis@charlotteobserver.com and put "Southern Latino" in the message line. We'll hold a drawing to give away a copy on Thursday.

Pimento and Cheese Chilaquiles

From "The New Southern-Latino Table," by Sandra A. Gutierrez (UNC Press, $30). You can double or triple the recipe, and add cooked, shredded chicken or cooked ground beef.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

12 corn tortillas, each cut in eight wedges
Vegetable oil for frying
Salt
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 (14-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Pimento Sauce (see below)
1 1/2 cups shredded queso fresco or Monterey Jack
1 1/4 cups sour cream
2 avocadoes
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro

Line two baking sheets with cooling racked. Heat 3 to 3 inches of oil to 350 degrees in a large skillet with deep sides. Working in batches, carefully add the tortilla wedges and fry, stirring constantly, for 3 to 4 minutes or until crispy. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to the cooling racks and immediately sprinkle with salt.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add tomatoes, salt and pepper; bring to a simmer, cover and cook 10 minutes. Stir in the pimento sauce and remove from heat.
Spread a third of the sauce in the bottom of a 13-by-9-inch baking dish. Top with half of the fried chips. Spread half of the remaining sauce over the chips, then spread with half of the cheese. Repeat layering, ending with the cheese. Press down on the tortillas with a wooden spoon (don't worry if some bread). Drop the sour cream by dollops over the top. Cover loosely with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil.

Halve, pit and peel the avocadoes and slice them thinly. Place the slices decoratively over the top of the casserole. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

Pimento Sauce:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups roughly chopped yellow onion
1 cup peeled, seeded and chopped plum tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 (7-ounce) jars diced pimentos
1 teaspoon aji panca paste or hot sauce such as Tabasco
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a medium saucepan. Add the onions and saute 3 to 4 minutes, or until they begin to soften. Add the tomatoes and garlic and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the pimentos, aji panca or hot sauce, water, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool. slightly. Transfer to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Return to saucepan and keep warm until ready to serve. Makes 2 cups.

No pimento cheese at the Masters?

People in Charlotte got stuck on I-485 for four hours. Some went without power for hours - or are still going without.

But Tuesday's big storm really shot a birdy at the South in Augusta, Ga. Without electricity, there was no pimento cheese at the Masters.

What's next, Mother Nature? No mint for juleps on Derby Day? No asparagus for Easter dinners?

Read about it here.

What we're reading in the food world

Looking around the online food world this morning:

• Is pimento cheese Southern? Charleston blogger Robert F. Moss offers a good look at the history at Al Forno (www.robertfmoss.com). And blogger Tim the Cheese Man ties the question to The Masters in Augusta. (Thanks to CNN's food web site, Eatocracy, for pointing out that link to the links, and to John T. Edge for tipping me off to Robert Moss.)
• While we're thinking about cheese, how do you make the best grilled cheese sandwich ever? Spread mayonnaise on the bread instead of butter. Francis Lam explains that and other grilled-cheese chef trucs at www.salon.com.
• Raise a toast to the debut of a new site at www.seriouseats: Serious Eats Drinks is dedicated to all things potable, from cocktails, wine and beer to coffee, tea and sodas. Today's offerings include a tasting of cream sodas.
• Where's the orange roughy at your Costco? www.change.org reports that mega-wholesalers Costco has agreed to cooperate with Greenpeace and pull 12 fish species that are fished unsustainably. Get the details here.
• And finally, David Leite wants to start a campaign to change the calendar. His reason: Making our food resolutions in January dooms our diets. See if you agree at www.leitesculinaria.

Cheese quiz: Who eats the most pimento cheese?

Which two cities are the leaders in pimento cheese consumption?

Apparently, they are . . . Charlotte and Raleigh (well, Raleigh-Durham, the Tarheel twin cities).

That's according to writer Emily Wallace, who did a report on 'minner cheese in the latest edition of Gravy, the newsletter of the Southern Foodways Alliance. Wallace interviewed Ed Simmerly, vice president of Moody Dunbar in Johnston City, Tenn., the nation's leading canner of pimentos.

Simmerly said that 80 percent of pimento cheese spreads are sold in 11 Southeastern markets, with Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte claiming the prize as the two biggest consumers of pimento cheese.

As far as which pimento cheese is best . . . let's not start that again, shall we?

Pimento Cheese: Ready for more?

After our recent tasting of three pimento cheeses, Palmetto, Augusta's and Ruth's, readers demanded another tasting. This time, you wanted us to include Stan's, Something Classic and Fresh Market.

Did we listen? Of course we did. Did you think we'd miss a chance to eat 'minnow cheese and talk about it?

This time, we lined up Palmetto, based on a recipe from the Sea View Inn on Pawley's Island, with Stan's, Something Classic and Fresh Market.

Which one came out on top? Tune in tomorrow to The Observer, available in handy printed and online versions (www.charlotteobserver.com/food for online, at the end of your driveway for print) to find out which pimento cheese was the champion.

And yes, we'll have a recipe for making your own. No, it probably isn't the one your mom made. But we like it.

Which pimento cheese rules?

Certain choices are too personal to mess with: Religion, politics, and pimento cheese. A number of years ago, I did a pimento cheese tasting and I swore I'd never do it again. The pimento cheese you like is the one your mother made, and I never argue with a person's mother.

But never say never. I've been hearing about a couple of newcomers in Harris Teeter recently, Charlotte-based Augusta's and the cleverly named Palmetto Cheese from Pawley's Island. When co-worker Shannon Crisp stated ranting about her addiction to Palmetto, I thought it was time to give them a try.

I arranged a blind-tasting of Palmetto, Augusta's (both in the original or non-jalapeno form) and the venerable Ruth's Pimento Spread, made in Chester, S.C. Then I pulled together two avowed 'minter cheese addicts, Crisp and writer Olivia Fortson. As the person who covers parties, Fortson knows her way around a dip tray. We put out number-coded plates of all three, along with celery and crackers, and got to work.

All three of us choose the same favorite and the same second favorite. We also were able to identify the three correctly. The spreads were that different in taste, texture and appearance.

The unanimous favorite: Palmetto Cheese. Besides having a little peppery kick, the shredded-cheese texture impressed us all. That texture made it seem the closest to homemade. "It tastes like my mom made it in her kitchen," said Crisp. "I want to grab a recipe and make things with that."

A close second: Augusta's. The texture, we all agreed, was too smooth and creamy. But we all liked the flavor, which was a little sharper with a bit more bite. It would make the best party dip, especially for spreading on celery sticks.

Third place: Ruth's, which was declared "too orange and too sweet," with a flavor that reminded us of Kraft Miracle Whip instead of mayonnaise. But Ruth's wasn't necessarily a loser. Crisp noted that it was the kind of pimento cheese she grew up with, and she knows for a fact "it makes the best grilled pimento cheese sandwich."

If you still have a beach-house week ahead of you, I'd recommend packing along a tub of both Pawley's and Augusta's. Take plenty of crackers and do your own tasting.