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I recently had the pleasure of spending a couple of days in beautiful Key West, Florida. While maneuvering through the hordes of beachgoers, I passed a little shop called Key Lime Pie Heaven. I made a mental note to come back and turned the corner to find another store called The Key Lime Factory, and wouldn't you know it only 3 doors down was the Key Lime Pie Outlet. Apparently I had stumbled upon the key lime district. Florideans don't have much claim to fame in the culinary world, but key lime pie takes the cake.

Key lime pie is made from (surprise!) key limes. These are a variety of lime, known for their small size, thin skin, and tart flavor. Despite their name, most key limes are grown in Mexico but can be grown in warm climates where there is little or no risk of frost.

Bill Wood, key lime enthusiast, self declared key lime historian, and owner of the Key Lime Pie Outlet, was nice enough to tell me the whole story of key limes and let me taste some of the products he sold in his shop. According to Bill, key lime pie was first created in the late 1800's and corresponded to the release of canned sweetened condensed milk. This was the first time that milk products were widely available in the Florida keys. Locals mixed in eggs and key lime juice and baked it in a simple graham cracker crust. Voila - key lime pie was born. Meringue and whipped cream toppings came shortly after.

The Key Lime Pie Outlet sells a variety of products, all of them made with real key limes (except for bottles of Key West Lime Juice, which is made with regular limes, but tourists insist on buying because of the name). Products include cookies, salad dressings, candies and sauces. One of the more interesting items is a key lime/chipoltle hot sauce which Bill put on top of vanilla ice cream - which was surprisingly delicious.

And while I'm on a key lime kick (and because they're in season), I'll be incorporating key limes, and key lime juice into several of my upcoming SocialEats events. See you at dinner.

Eat well!
Ben
Founder and Creator of SocialEats