key lime pie

key lime pie, an American dessert that consists of a graham-cracker or pastry crust, a yellow custard (primarily egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, and key lime juice), and a topping of either whipped cream or meringue. The sweet and tart pie reportedly originated in Key West, Florida, in the late 19th century. The use of sweetened condensed milk, an essential ingredient, is probably because fresh milk and refrigeration were uncommon in the isolated Florida Keys until the 1930s. There are numerous variations of the dessert, and a nontraditional twist is the chocolate-dipped key lime pie sold on a stick in Key West.

While key lime pie—which was named the official pie of Florida in 2006—is easily found in restaurants throughout the Florida Keys, the same cannot be said of the tart key limes. The small yellowish orbs have not been commercially grown in the keys in decades, mostly because of damaging hurricanes and citrus canker, a plant disease. Though the limes are still occasionally grown privately, even in backyards, many pies are made with imported limes or bottled juice.