Zesty Discoveries: Top 15 Fun Facts About Key Lime Pie You Didn't Know!

1. Key Lime Festival Fun

When life gives you Key limes, make Key Lime Pie: Key Lime Pie's tangy secret stems from the distinct tartness of its namesake, the small, round Key limes, a special hybrid born of Citrus × aurantiifolia and Citrus × medica, and an annual Florida Keys staple celebrated at the Key Lime Festival.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

2. Florida's Dessert Showdown

Florida's dessert scene might have you wonder whether it's a sweet version of Mortal Kombat, with strawberry shortcake and Key lime pie duking it out for national supremacy: But in the realm of tart and creamy titans, one contender reigns supreme, as Key lime pie has been Florida's beloved dessert for over a century, made with local Key limes – smaller, tarter limey warriors – and spreading its flavor beyond state lines, with Tampa's Mike's Pies shipping hundreds of thousands of pies to 48 states and Ulele restaurant crafting a unique brûléed meringue-covered variation!
Source => wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu

Did you know that the world's largest pumpkin pie weighed 3,699 pounds and measured 20 feet in diameter? It used a whopping 1,212 pounds of canned pumpkin and over 500 pounds of sugar! Discover more about this record-breaking dessert and its origins.

=> Fun Facts about Pumpkin-Pie

3. Rockstar Key Limes

If key lime pie were a rockstar, key limes would be its legendary bass player, laying down those groovy, zesty vibes that everyone craves: The best limes to use for an authentic key lime pie are key limes, also known as Mexican or West Indies limes, which provide a distinct and zesty flavor; regular limes can be used as substitutes, but they won't strike the same chord of deliciousness.
Source => thespruceeats.com

4. Key Lime Pie's Cookbook Debut

Who needs crusty old scrolls or ancient hidden tomes? It turns out the secrets of Key lime pie, that zesty, tangy pie of the people, lie within the pages of a humble mid-20th century cookbook: It wasn't until 1940 when Key lime pie made its first written appearance, causing nationwide mouths to water at rapid rates. Floridians eventually turned their pious adoration into law, crowning Key lime pie the official state pie in 2006.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

5. Miami: Key Lime Capital

Who needs GPS when you have limes? Miami, not the Florida Keys, is the true home of the legendary Florida Key Lime: In a giddy twist of lime fate, the famous little citrus fruit actually hails from Malaysia, hitching a ride to Florida in the 1500s courtesy of Spanish explorers. While you can still unearth key limes in the occasional Florida Keys yard, a hurricane wiped out commercial production back in 1926, making Miami the main squeeze for these flavorful, dessert-inspiring darlings.
Source => teakstpete.com

6. Florida's Key Lime Extravaganza

For those Key Lime Pie enthusiasts who like to "lime" around with a slice of tangy, creamy goodness, Florida's got you covered like a pie's graham cracker crust: The Key Lime Festival in Key West is a five-day extravaganza from June 30 to July 4 in 2023, and July 3 to July 7 in 2024, celebrating the pie's birthplace with events such as the Key Lime Cocktail Sip & Stroll and Key Lime Pie Hop, as well as exclusive VIP experiences for die-hard lime fanatics.
Source => keylimefestival.com

7. Ingenious Icebox-Free Pie

Back in the ye olde days of Key West, Florida, when iceboxes were the thing of the future and refrigerators were about as real as magical unicorns, the locals needed a way to whip up a delicious dessert without having to keep their milk on ice skates: Enter the legendary key lime pie! Crafted from sweetened condensed milk, key lime juice, and egg yolks, this unique combination of ingredients sets off a chemical reaction that thickens the filling without any extra cookery, making it the perfect solution to the era's chilling problem. And while many modern recipes now call for baking, we can't help but admire the ingenuity of our pie-baking ancestors.
Source => browneyedbaker.com

8. Sweetened Condensed Milk Magic

Who says the milkman doesn't deliver on time and you can't get fresh milk in Key West? Well, that was indeed the case during the 19th century, prompting the local sweet tooth authorities to skedaddle towards a different solution for their pie adventures: Enter the key lime pie, a dessert which found its scrumptious groove in Key West, Florida, relying on sweetened condensed milk as a primary ingredient, due to the lack of fresh milk and refrigeration in the sunny Florida Keys during those early days.
Source => 30seconds.com

9. Naturally Green and Tasty

While Kermit the Frog may croon, "It's not easy being green," the key lime pie stands tall as a delicious exception to the rule, embracing its natural greeny-yellow hue with pride and flavor: Contrary to popular belief, authentic key lime pie does not require food coloring, and its actual color varies based on the ripeness of the key limes used. If you find a brighter green pie on your plate, it might just be a chameleonic move to blend into the tasty ecosystem.
Source => thekitchenmagpie.com

10. Blue Heaven's Heavenly Recipe

If our vacation daydreams had a flavor, they'd taste like the tangy, sweet burst of key lime pie that'll transport you to the sandy beaches of Key West in a single heavenly bite: Little do folks know, the not-so-secret recipe of Blue Heaven Restaurant's famous key lime pie filling involves mixing two cans of Borden's Sweetened Condensed Milk, a generous cup of fresh key lime juice, and a whopping eight egg yolks!
Source => recipelink.com

11. A Zesty, Enigmatic Origin

Like a tart-filled whodunit that remains unsolved, Key lime pie's origin story is just as zesty and enigmatic as the dessert itself: The true beginnings of this tangy treat remain shrouded in mystery, with competing claims ranging from a Borden test kitchen in New York to a wealthy Floridian and their secretive cook, Aunt Sally, revealing only that its delectable legacy is as rich as its filling!
Source => miamiherald.com

12. Pirate Sponge Fishermen's Creation

Avast, me hearties! There once was a time when Florida Keys' sponge fishermen were dabbling their hands in culinary mastery and crafting treasures on land that were just as golden as their hauls at sea: Key lime pie has graced this world since the enchanting 1800s when these fishermen combined their key lime booty with condensed milk and eggs, gifting us with a mouthwatering dessert that now elegantly sits on a graham cracker crust throne!
Source => backtomysouthernroots.com

13. Henry Perrine: Lime-bringer

When life gives you limes, make pie: specifically, Key lime pie, named after the Florida Keys where these tart little treasures gained fame! In a delicious twist of fate, it was globetrotting explorer Henry Perrine who brought these zesty wonders to Florida from tropical Southeast Asia in the 19th century. Nowadays, these puckering powerhouses are harvested in Mexico, Central America, South America, Texas, Florida, and California, proving size doesn't matter when it comes to creating bold flavors and culinary masterpieces.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

14. The Power of Small Key Limes

Whoever said that size doesn't matter never had a slice of Key lime pie: Though Key limes are indeed smaller than Persian limes, it's their unique aroma and tart-but-not-too-acidic flavor that sets them apart, and they haven't been grown commercially in the U.S. since 1926 due to a hurricane that forced a switch to Thornless Persian lime crops, now relying on imported Key limes from Central America and Mexico for our scrumptious dessert fix.
Source => southernliving.com

15. Versatile Lime Juice Options

Some people think limes are a-peel-ing lemons going through their rebellious, tart teen years; others think they just came back from a tropical vacation looking fresh and shiny green: Key lime pie can be made with either fresh squeezed key lime juice or its bottled counterpart, offering a versatile dessert for any occasion.
Source => thespruceeats.com