Pimento

Pimento, also called ALLSPICE or JAMAICA PEPPER, a well-known spice, the dried fruit of Eugenia Pimenta, a small West Indian tree chiefly confined to Jamaica, which grows to the height of 20 or 30 feet, and has oblong or oval leaves about 4 inches long, of a deep shining green, and numerous axillary and terminal trichotomous panicles of white flowers, followed by small dark purple berries. The pimento-tree is cultivated in some of the West Indian Islands. It is a very beautiful tree, with straight white trunk and much-branching head; about the month of April it is covered with an exuberance of flowers, which diffuse a rich aromatic odour. The leaves and bark partake of the aromatic property for which the fruit is valued. The fruit, when ripe, is filled with a sweet pulp, and the aromatic property which so strongly characterises it in an unripe state has in a great measure disappeared. The gathering of the berries, therefore, takes place as soon as they have reached their full size, which is about that of peppercorns. They are gathered by the hand, and dried in the sun on terraced floors, during which process great care is taken, by turning and winnowing, to prevent them from being injured by moisture. Their colour changes in drying from green to reddish brown. When dry they are packed in bags for the market. Some planters kiln-dry them. The name Allspice was given to pimento from a supposed resemblance in flavour to a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Pimento is much employed in cookery, and is also used in medicine as a carminative and stimulant to prevent the griping of purgatives, and to disguise the taste of nauseous drugs. It depends for its properties chiefly on a volatile oil, Oil of Pimento, which is obtained from it by distillation with water, and is sometimes used to relieve toothache. The leaves are used for tanning, and a large trade is carried on in young shoots of the tree. From 3000 to 4000 bundles (500 to 800 in each bundle) are shipped annually from Jamaica for sticks for umbrellas. The crop of pimento in Jamaica, which alone furnishes the spice to commerce, varies. In 1888 it was 69,559 cwt., and in 1889, 46,179 cwt. The average receipts of the spice in England are about 4,000,000 lb.