- Key lime pie
Key lime pie is an American
dessert made ofkey lime juice,egg yolk s, andsweetened condensed milk in apie crust. The traditional conch version utilizes the egg whites and has ameringue topping. ["Conch Cooking" L.P. Artman, Jr., August 1975 Florida Keys Printing & Publishing, page 74] The dish is named after the small key limes ("Citrus aurantifolia" 'Swingle') that are naturalized throughout theFlorida Keys . Their thorns make them less tractable, their thin yellow rind makes them moreperishable , but they are more tart and aromatic than the commonPersian lime s seen year round in most U.S. grocery stores.Key lime pie is made with canned sweetened condensed milk, since fresh milk was not a common commodity in the
Florida Keys before modern refrigerated distribution methods.Key lime juice, unlike regular lime juice, is a pale yellow. The filling in key lime pie is also yellow, largely due to the egg yolks. ["Conch Cooking" L.P. Artman, Jr., August 1975 Florida Keys Printing & Publishing, page 74] Some cooks add
food coloring to give the pie filling a green color. This practice is frowned upon by those who make traditional key lime pies. [ [http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/PieHistory/KeyLimePie.htm History of Key Lime Pie] ] [For further discussion see: [http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Key_Lime_Pie Wiki Cookbook: Key Lime Pie] .]During mixing, a reaction between the condensed milk and the acidic lime juice occurs which causes the filling to thicken on its own without requiring baking. Many early recipes for key lime pie did not instruct the cook to ever bake the pie, relying on this
chemical reaction (calledsouring ) to produce the proper consistency of the filling. Today, in the interest of safety due to consumption of raw eggs, pies of this nature are usually baked for a short time. The baking also thickens the texture even more than the reaction alone.Legislation
In 1965, Florida State Representative Bernie Papy, Jr. introduced legislation calling for a $100 fine to be levied against anyone advertising key lime pie that is not made with key limes. The bill did not pass. [A Chronological History of Key West A Tropical Island City, 3rd edition, Stephen Nichols] As of
July 1 ,2006 , key lime pie is the Florida state pie. [ cite web| title=SB 676 - Official State Pie/Key Lime| url=http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=32043| accessdate=2006-08-14 ]Notes
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