Key Lime Pie Birthplace Sign

Title

Key Lime Pie Birthplace Sign

Artist

Catherine Sherman

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

"Key Lime Pie Birthplace Sign" by Catherine Sherman

A sign on a yellow brick wall in Key West, Florida, announces the birthplace of Key Lime Pie.

Key Lime Pie is on almost every menu in Florida. The original version with meringue is more difficult to find. The more available version uses whipped cream, which is easier to serve. My husband and I found the meringue key lime pie at the Key Lime Pie Factory on Tavernier Island just west of Key Largo. It was delicious! You can buy slices and whole pies, as well as a wide range of key lime flavored treats, including frozen key lime pie dipped in chocolate on a stick

Key Lime Pie is thought to have been invented in Key West by “Aunt Sally,” the talented cook of William Curry, a prominent Key West resident and Bahamian-born immigrant who became Florida’s first millionaire. In the late 1800s, Aunt Sally used ingredients available on the island, which is at the end of the Florida Keys archipelago — easy to store sweetened condensed milk in a can (no cows anywhere near the island), local eggs (there are chickens everywhere on Key West) and the locally grown key limes. Key limes are yellowish when ripe and are smaller and have more seeds than the bright green limes you commonly find in the grocery store throughout the United States. In the original recipe, egg yolks go into the filling, and the egg whites are whipped into a meringue topping. More commonly now, restaurants and bakeries skip the meringue and use whipped cream, but the Key Lime Pie Factory in Tavernier Island in the Florida Keys still creates its pies with meringue when we visited in 2018.

Important to Key Lime Pie is sweetened condensed milk. Gail Borden Jr. (November 9, 1801 – January 11, 1874) was a native New Yorker who settled in Texas in 1829 then still Mexico, where he worked as a land surveyor, newspaper publisher, and inventor. He created a process in 1853 to make sweetened condensed milk. Earlier Borden helped plan the cities of Houston and Galveston in 1836.

Borden's process for making sweetened condensed milk enabled the dairy product to be transported and stored without refrigeration, and for longer periods than fresh milk. After returning to the New York area to market another product, he set up factories for condensed milk in Connecticut, and later in New York and Illinois. Demand was high for his product by the Union Army during the American Civil War. His New York Condensed Milk Company changed its name to Borden Dairy Co. after his death.

Key Lime Pie Recipe
Ingredients
Pie Crust
1/3 of a 1-pound box of graham crackers
5 Tablespoons of melted unsalted butter
1/3 cup of sugar
Pie Filling
4 egg yolks
2 teaspoons of lime zest - be sure to zest before you squeeze the juice!
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened, condensed milk
2/3 cup of freshly squeezed lime juice (approximately 24-36 limes depending on the freshness of limes), or 6-8 regular fresh limes (again, depending on freshness)
Meringue Topping
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
2 tablespoons of sugar
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Crumble the graham crackers; process the crackers in a food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, place the crackers in a large plastic bag; seal and crush the crackers with a rolling pin. Add the melted butter and sugar and pulse in the processor or stir until combined in a bowl.

Press the mixture into the bottom and side of a pie pan. Lightly form a border up the sides.

Bake the crust at 350 degrees until set and golden, about 8 minutes. When baked, cool on a wire rack. Leave the oven on.

For the filling, grate 2 teaspoons of the lime skin. Then, using a hand press, squeeze 2/3 cups of key lime juice by cutting each lime in half and placing it in press (they are usually too small for a juicer).

Next, separate the egg yolks from the whites. Set aside the egg whites for the meringue if you want to use them later. Have your sweetened condensed milk opened, your juice finished and your zest ready for the next step.

In an electric mixer with the wire whisk attachment, beat the 4 egg yolks and 2 teaspoons of lime zest at high speed until very fluffy, about 5 minutes. Gradually add the can of condensed milk and continue to beat until thick, 3 or 4 minutes longer. Lower the mixer speed and slowly add the 2/3 cup of lime juice, mixing just until combined, no longer. Pour the mixture into the crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, or until the filling has just set. Cool on a wire rack.

For the topping, with a mixer, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the sugar until forming stiff peaks.

Spread over filling and seal to edge of crust. Bake at 400 degrees for 5-8 minutes or until meringue is golden brown. Note: Watch the oven and don’t take your eyes off the meringue, it could brown quickly. Place in the refrigerator and let it chill for 2-3 hours.

Featured in "Signs" group (08/18/2021)

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July 9th, 2021

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