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Palmetto Cheese is a trademark for a brand of pimento cheese from Pawleys Island Specialty Foods, a division of Get Carried Away based in Pawleys Island, South Carolina. The ingredients: sharp cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, cream cheese, and a blend of spices come packaged in 12 ounce containers. Palmetto Cheese is manufactured and packaged at Duke Sandwich Productions located in Easley, South Carolina. Palmetto Cheese is sold in three varieties: Original, Jalapeño and Bacon.
History
The Palmetto Cheese recipe was developed by Sassy Henry for tailgating at Atlanta Braves games. When Sassy and her husband, Brian, moved to Pawleys Island, South Carolina, they purchased the Sea View Inn. It was there that Vertrella Brown added the "soul" to the "pimento cheese with soul". Brown's image can be found on the label of Palmetto Cheese. In 2006, Sassy and Vertrella's pimento cheese recipe made the leap from the Sea View Inn menu to the first 20 packages put for sale at Independent Seafood in Georgetown,South Carolina.
To meet the demand for the growing company, the Henrys found a manufacturer that could help them with future growth. In 2011, Palmetto Cheese nearly doubled its distribution with the addition of Giant-Carlisle, Giant-Landover, Stop & Shop, and Albertsons locations. The brand continues to expand into new locations. In April, 2012, Palmetto Cheese became available at 699 Walmart stores, the world's largest retailer. This partnership would lead Duke Sandwich to develop a new 80,000-square-foot facility in 2012.
In 2013, customers consumed 4.1 million containers of Palmetto Cheese. Duke Sandwich Productions produces 120,000 containers a week of Palmetto Cheese in 2015 that get distributed to over 6,000 stores in 35 states. With the Original variety being the company's top seller, followed by jalapeno, and the bacon variety.