What? National Pie Day? Today? No..... that's March 14th, right? (3.14) Apparently not, at least according to the
American Pie Council. Information I received in an email yesterday from Emily, my beloved niece and fellow lover of all things pie. Quoting her here,"I feel like someone should put an appropriate recipe up on the food blog." Appropriate. Hmmmm. Florida... Key Lime Pie, anyone?
The recipe I am using today is the one sent to me by my Mother-In-Law Margery from Florida, a gazillion years ago. That specific recipe is at home, so I had to do a little Internet searching to find it. It's pretty simple -- two ingredients, three if you count the crust. But the correct proportions were not known. I found the recipe, and along the way learned a few things about Key Lime Pie.
This is it. One 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk, preferably Borden. 1/2 cup of lime juice -- if you're going to call it Key Lime Pie, it needs to be from real Key limes, the tiny little yellow ones. An acceptable alternative is Nellie and Joe's Famous Key West Lime Juice, which is available here in Florida at the Winn Dixie. (There is a $100 fine in Florida for calling a pie Key Lime Pie if it does not have real key lime juice in it.) Mix the sweetened condensed milk and the lime juice together, watch it thicken up, marvel at the science. Pour it into the graham cracker crust, refrigerate for about 3 hours. Serve with whipped cream. I've made this off and on for years, and it is my favorite version -- but it is pucker producing tart.
According to my Internet search, this is probably not the authentic Key Lime Pie recipe. The recipe on the bottle of Nellie and Joe's juice is probably the most authentic. Here is theirs: One 9" graham cracker crust, One 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk. 3 egg yolks (the whites are not used). 1/2 cup Nellie and Joe's Key West Lime juice. Combine milk, egg yolks and lime juice. Blend until smooth. Pour filling into pie shell and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Allow to stand 10 minutes before refrigerating. Just before serving, top with freshly whipped cream and garnish with lime slices. Stuff I learned? This pie was 'invented' in Florida, before refrigeration. Thus the use of canned milk. It originally was not baked, even though it had egg yolks in it. It is the state pie of Florida. Some thrifty folks put a meringue on top -- probably couldn't stand to waste the egg whites. And sweetened condensed milk is called 'the nectar of the south.' The $100 fine is my favorite piece of pie trivia. ('piece of pie' trivia -- some things are just naturally funny.) Enjoy Pie Day!
The recipe I am using today is the one sent to me by my Mother-In-Law Margery from Florida, a gazillion years ago. That specific recipe is at home, so I had to do a little Internet searching to find it. It's pretty simple -- two ingredients, three if you count the crust. But the correct proportions were not known. I found the recipe, and along the way learned a few things about Key Lime Pie.
This is it. One 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk, preferably Borden. 1/2 cup of lime juice -- if you're going to call it Key Lime Pie, it needs to be from real Key limes, the tiny little yellow ones. An acceptable alternative is Nellie and Joe's Famous Key West Lime Juice, which is available here in Florida at the Winn Dixie. (There is a $100 fine in Florida for calling a pie Key Lime Pie if it does not have real key lime juice in it.) Mix the sweetened condensed milk and the lime juice together, watch it thicken up, marvel at the science. Pour it into the graham cracker crust, refrigerate for about 3 hours. Serve with whipped cream. I've made this off and on for years, and it is my favorite version -- but it is pucker producing tart.
According to my Internet search, this is probably not the authentic Key Lime Pie recipe. The recipe on the bottle of Nellie and Joe's juice is probably the most authentic. Here is theirs: One 9" graham cracker crust, One 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk. 3 egg yolks (the whites are not used). 1/2 cup Nellie and Joe's Key West Lime juice. Combine milk, egg yolks and lime juice. Blend until smooth. Pour filling into pie shell and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Allow to stand 10 minutes before refrigerating. Just before serving, top with freshly whipped cream and garnish with lime slices. Stuff I learned? This pie was 'invented' in Florida, before refrigeration. Thus the use of canned milk. It originally was not baked, even though it had egg yolks in it. It is the state pie of Florida. Some thrifty folks put a meringue on top -- probably couldn't stand to waste the egg whites. And sweetened condensed milk is called 'the nectar of the south.' The $100 fine is my favorite piece of pie trivia. ('piece of pie' trivia -- some things are just naturally funny.) Enjoy Pie Day!
2 comments:
Yay, perfect! That's exactly what I wanted. Happy Pie Day ! (Not to be confused with Pi Day in March...)
Looks yummy and easy.
Emmy -- I'm happy that you're happy. It is hard to mess this one up -- just use good ingredients. It makes an excellent pie, IMO.
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