Food & Drink

Key limelight

The juice from these little green fruits is a hot way to add a cool, refreshing bite to tonics and tarts, shampoos and sherbets

By Kitty Crider
AMERICAN-STATESMAN FOOD EDITOR
Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Key limes have rolled out of the pie pan and all over the table. In a recent crawl of local stores, we discovered more than two dozen Key lime-flavored foods from the nourishing to the exotic: brands of yogurt, cookies, candies, cheeseball mixes, even sodas and alcoholic drinks.

"One of our signature cocktails for our catered events is the Key Lime Rickey, made with vodka or gin, and garnished with fresh mint. Very, very popular," says Robin Kelley, co-owner of Austin's P&K Grocery.

The Key lime, associated with the Florida Keys and often seen in Austin stores, is also called a Mexican lime because Mexico is a common source for the round little fruit. Smaller than pingpong balls, the limes, when ripe, are more yellow-green than the jade hue of the larger Persian limes.

The Key lime juice, at maturity, is faintly greenish yellow and highly acidic with that wonderful lime aroma. But the little limes are a pain to juice. Some aficionados use presses, others the tip of a juicer. Still others ask local markets to juice the fruit.

However, Central Market has to decline, says foodie Jane King. "The Key limes are so small they mess up the machines." The market will juice the full-size Persian limes. It also sells bottled Key lime juice.

That's why many fans skip the fruit and buy the bottled juice, even though many of the bottles today say on the label that some of the juice might come from fruit elsewhere — like Mexico — rather than the Keys.

Despite the name, Key limes did not originate in Florida. Explorers brought them there centuries ago, and the fruit took root. But then hurricanes practically wiped them out.

Ironically, although the Florida Legislature named Key lime pie as the state pie this summer, the fruit is not grown there commercially in substantial amounts any more, says Don Pybas, director of the Miami-Dade County Cooperative Extension Service. Key limes were grown back in the '20s, Florida agriculture experts say, but hurricanes in the past century hurt the crops. Many commercial growers switched to Persian limes when replanting because they are larger and the branches are not as thorny, a drawback in harvesting. But they, too, were destroyed by hurricanes or citrus canker.

Today, many of the Key limes grown in Florida are in residents' yards. When they harvest their fruit, usually June through September but some all year, they often freeze the juice in ice cube trays, adding it to not only pies, but sauces, entrées and drinks. It's a natural for margaritas and daiquiris, a South Florida friend tells me.

Whether the Key limes come from Florida or Mexico has not hurt the popularity of the pie. Or the plethora of other Key lime goods. Our findings are only the tip of the Key lime branch. Stores and online sites tout marinades and other sauces, marmalades, jellies, chutneys and soaps, moisturizers, shampoos, bath gels and candles. And that tiny little lime is key to all.

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Add zest for filling full of flavor

Texans argue over chili. Floridians, Key lime pie.

Should it be topped with meringue or whipped cream? Must the crust be crushed graham crackers or a pastry shell? Do you bake the filling or not? Opinions war. Forks fight. But everyone keeps eating Key lime pie. Unless it is green. That is as serious a blunder as putting cinnamon, celery or noodles in chili.

Key lime pie is creamy in texture and color. Oh, it might have flecks of green zest. It may be topped with a slice of lime. But if it is lime sherbet green, suspect an impostor.

Just as fajitas have morphed from their original simplicity, so has Key lime pie. In Key West, cooks slice a wedge, dip it in chocolate and freeze it on a stick. They serve fluffy, chiffonlike Key lime pies, as well as more traditional ones.

Ditto for Austin. Fans can find pies with mile-high meringue or individual tarts with snickerdoodle crusts. They can find bite-sized pastry shells and jars of Key lime curd for the filling.

But, really the pie's fame is centered around its filling. Traditionally, Key lime pie filling is only three ingredients — Key lime juice, eggs and canned sweetened condensed milk, introduced by Gail Borden in 1856. Legend has it that the canned milk is a reason the pie flourished in the Keys, which were isolated from fresh milk supplies in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The pie's popularity was enhanced by its ease of preparation. Because the acidity of the lime juice reacts with the raw eggs and thickens naturally, the pie did not require baking. However, in more recent decades, baking has been added to Key lime recipes (as well as lemon icebox pie) to combat salmonella that might be present in raw eggs. Still, with a purchased crust and whipped cream topping, it is a simple dessert to make, even if you make the extra effort to add fresh grated zest for that perfect pucker pie.

Here's a popular recipe from Joe's Stone Crab Restaurant in Miami Beach, which many fans say might be the best in Florida. Joe's bakes about 30,000 handmade pies a year. His version, from Ken Haedrich's "Pie," comes in a graham cracker crust and has a firm texture and taste that's slightly more tart — the way many Floridians prefer it — than sweet.

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Recipes

Joe's Stone Crab Key Lime Pie
1 9-inch graham cracker crumb crust, homemade or store-bought
Filling:
3 large egg yolks, at room temperature
Grated zest of 2 limes
One 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
2/3 cup fresh lime juice, preferably Key lime
Topping:
1 cup cold heavy or whipping cream
I Tbsp. confectioners' sugar

Prepare the crust and press it into the bottom and up the side of a 9-inch standard pie pan. Refrigerate, prebake, and let cool as directed. Or simply use a store-bought crust, prebaking it according to the package directions and letting it cool. Refrigerate until ready to use. Leave the oven set at 350 degrees.

In a medium-size bowl, beat the egg yolks and lime zest together with an electric mixer on high speed until somewhat fluffy and well-aerated, about 5 minutes. (Set the timer; that's a lot of beating, and you might be tempted to cut it short.) Gradually add the condensed milk and continue to beat until the last of the condensed milk has been added and the mixture is rather thick and fluffy about 4 minutes. Slowly add the lime juice, mixing it in on low speed just until evenly blended. Pour the filling into the chilled pie shell.

Place the pie on the center oven rack and bake just until the filling appears set, about 10 minutes. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and let cool thoroughly. Cover with loosely tented aluminum foil and refrigerate until very cold, at least 2 hours. When you are almost ready to serve the pie, using a chilled large bowl and chilled beaters, beat the cream with the mixer until it barely holds soft peaks. Add the confectioners' sugar and continue to beat until stiff but not grainy. Do not overbeat. If you're serving all of the pie at once, slather the whipped cream over the pie, then slice and serve. If you're serving only a few slices, garnish each slice with cream. Makes 8-10 servings.

Tips:

Keep a bottle of Key lime juice on hand so you can whip it up on short notice for a casual gathering.

Baking this pie is somewhat counterintuitive in that it takes only 10 minutes. That hardly seems like enough time for the filling to set, but in fact it is. Baking it longer is not recommended and might ruin the filling.

- 'Pie' by Ken Haedrich

Key Lime Rickey
1.5 oz. gin or vodka
Equal parts club soda and Key lime juice
Dash of simple syrup
Fresh mint and Key lime wedge for garnish
Crushed ice

Combine gin or vodka with club soda, Key lime juice and dash of simple syrup. Serve over crushed ice in a chilled highball glass. Garnish with fresh mint and a wedge of Key lime. Makes 1.
- P&K Grocery

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Know your limes by two, three, four or five different names

The Key lime (Citrus aurantifolia) is also known as the Mexican lime and West Indian lime. It originated in Asia, was introduced to the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa by Arab traders. After it was brought to the Americas during the early 16th century by Spanish and Portuguese explorers, it became naturalized in the West Indies, South Florida and some Caribbean countries. The tree itself is somewhat small and bushy, with thorny slender branches. The fruit rarely grows larger than 2 inches in size, and the rind is thin and yellow when fully ripe.

The full-size Persian lime (Citrus x latifolia), also called the Tahiti lime, appeared in home plantings in California about 1875 and is believed to have originated from the seed of a citrus fruit imported from Tahiti to San Francisco sometime after 1850. It is also thought to be of hybrid origin. Larger than the Key or Mexican lime, the tree branches can be thornless or spined (quarter-inch thorns) even on the same tree. The fruit is oval, about 2.75 inches long and up to 2.5 inches in diameter, but it will get larger if left too long on the tree. It is characterized by the presence of a nipple on the blossom end of the fruit. The rind is smooth and dark green at commercial maturity, becoming lighter green to yellow at full maturity.
- Julian W. Sauls, professor and horticulturist, Texas Cooperative Extension Service