Esoteric Columbia, a blog dedicated to random fun facts about Columbia, may have found proof that our fair city is home to the first recorded pimento cheese recipe. The recipe was printed in A Friend in Need, published in 1912 by the Ladies of the Free Kindergarten Association in Columbia. The version written by Janie DuBose includes grated cheese, pimentos, and mayonnaise, with the choice of including an optional little finely chopped sour pickle. With the exception of the optional pickle, the recipe looks exactly like what we consider pimento cheese in the South today — unlike some other early recipes, which use cream cheese.
“So the ball is now in every other city and town’s court,” reads the Esoteric Columbia post. “Find an earlier recipe that uses grated cheese, pimentos and mayonnaise. Until then, I’m claiming Columbia as the rightful home of pimento cheese.”
Southern food writer Robert Moss has already established that Columbia is the birthplace of the pimiento cheeseburger, so it only makes sense that the original cheese spread was created here, too.
Starbucks Coming to Cayce
The lot that once housed Kershaw Tire at 727 Knox Abbott Drive in Cayce has been cleared for a while with no activity until recently. We now know that the lot is going to be home to a Starbucks, making Frappucinos on the way into work in the morning more of a possibility for commuters who come up the main Cayce thoroughfare.
The Starbucks will be located between the Taco Bell and Captain D’s. Construction is currently in the very early stages.
Save Water, Drink Wine
No need to tell us twice that saving water can be achieved with a full glass of wine. The Gills Creek Watershed Association is once again encouraging everyone to be good stewards of the environment at their Wine for Water event at Hay Hill Market on Thursday, Feb. 28, from 6 to 8:30 p.m.
The event, which features an oyster roast, a variety of handpicked wines, music and a silent auction, will benefit the association, whose mission is to restore and protect the Gills Creek Watershed. Gills Creek is the largest impaired urban watershed in the state and covers most of the Midlands, including the cities of Columbia, Cayce, Forest Acres, Arcadia Lakes, Richland County and Fort Jackson. The watershed begins above Sesquicentennial State Park and flows down into the Congaree River above Congaree National Park.
Tickets for Wine for Water are $35 for association members are $45 for nonmembers and can be purchased online at gillscreekwatershed.org.
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