Key lime pie is a dessert made of lime juice, eggs, condensed milk and sugar in a pre-baked pie or unbaked graham cracker crust. It is not a proper pie in that it is not baked; rather, the mixture is frozen. This makes it a popular summer dessert. The dish is named after the small limes (Citrus aurantifolia "Swingle") that are naturalized throughout the Florida Keys. Their ferocious thorns make them less tractable, their thin yellowish rind makes them less shippable, but they are both tarter and more aromatic than the common Persian limes seen year round in most U.S. grocery stores.
Proper Key lime pie is made with canned sweetened condensed milk, for fresh milk was not a common commodity in the Florida Keys before modern refrigerated distribution methods.
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Last updated: 10-23-2005 21:37:03