Historical Recipes: Professor Nicolaas Mink on his Life and Floridian Cuisine - The Story of Key Lime Pie

The story of key lime pie and its recipe.

Key lime pie is one of my favorite Florida foods. It is also one of those quintessential Florida dishes on the state’s “required eating list” for many gourmands and tourists. You can always tell how important a dish is to a local culture by how heated the arguments get over the authenticity of a recipe. For key lime pie, these arguments usually center on two debates: should cooks use graham cracker or pastry crust? And should they utilize meringue or whipped cream topping? I prefer the former in both cases, although I have had some excellent versions that deviate from the “authentic” dish.

Key lime pie has a fascinating story, too: Key limes are not native to the Florida Keys, as many people believe. They were brought to Florida by a botanist named Henry Perrine in the middle of the 19th century. Perrine hoped to create a giant subtropical plant experiment station in South Florida. The Federal government even gave him the largest land grant ever given to a private citizen—25,000 acres—to do so.  Perrine died in the Seminole Wars, but his limes as well as many other species became “naturalized” to the South Florida Landscape.  To market these Mexican limes, the Florida Department of Agriculture concocted “Key Lime Pie” contests to popularize these relatively unknown products. Nowadays, it’s considered a delicacy. Here’s my recipe. It’s milder than most. Whether they choose graham cracker or pastry, whipped cream or meringue, most of the restaurants in the Keys want to knock eaters back with these potent little limes.  That is not really my style. You can find key limes (usually from Mexico) at most supermarkets.

Key Lime Pie

Crust:
1 1/3 cup crushed graham cracker (usually one package)
1 stick butter
¼ cup brown sugar

Filling:

½ cup freshly-squeezed key lime juice
4 egg yolks
1 can sweetened, condensed milk
10 egg whites
¼ cup powder sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat over to 400 degrees. Combine graham cracker crumbs, stick of butter, and ¼ cup brown sugar in a mixing bowl. Press gently into 9 inch pie plate and bake for 10 minutes in oven, or until lightly brown. Take the crust out to cool slightly. Meanwhile, beat 4 egg yolks for 3 or 4 minutes on high or until their color turns pale yellow. While beating, slowly drizzle in the sweetened condensed milk. Once incorporated, whisk in the lime juice and set aside. In another bowl whip egg whites to soft peaks. Once they’ve reached this stage begin slowly beating in powdered sugar and vanilla until the egg whites have formed stiff peaks. Fold 1/6th of the beaten egg whites into the key lime custard mixture. This will lighten up filling and help the custard set.  Pour the key lime mixture into pie crust then gently mound the meringue on top of the custard filling. This pie will have a very high meringue.  Bake in the same 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes, or until the peaks of the meringue turn dark brown. Cool for one hour before sticking in refrigerator for another hour before serving.  Serve chilled.

For more information, contact Professor Nicolaas Mink at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it