Regarding Key Lime Pies:

Most recipes I've seen, call for a half cup of Key Lime Juice. However
that seems to make an extremely strong pie.

I'm using home-grown Key Limes, not the store-bought limes from Mexico.
They are fully ripe, not picked green. Does this explain the extra
strong taste, or could there be some other reason?

Fred

Fred McKenzie wrote:
> Regarding Key Lime Pies:
>
> Most recipes I've seen, call for a half cup of Key Lime Juice. However
> that seems to make an extremely strong pie.
>
> I'm using home-grown Key Limes, not the store-bought limes from Mexico.
> They are fully ripe, not picked green. Does this explain the extra
> strong taste, or could there be some other reason?
>
> Fred


My guess is the recipes are for Key(tm) lime juice (Persian lime juice
in a cleverly labeled bottle, not really Key Limes)

Try backing off to 1/3 cup of juice and see how it works. Or dilute
the juice with bottled lemon juice. (ouch. People just started
throwing things at me)

Bob

zxcvbob wrote:

> My guess is the recipes are for Key(tm) lime juice (Persian lime
> juice in a cleverly labeled bottle, not really Key Limes)

My understanding is that the bottled juice is the Mexican lime, which
is the same as the Key lime. There are large commercial orchards and
plants producing concentrate in Mexico.



Brian

--
Day 330 of the "no grouchy usenet posts" project

In article >,
zxcvbob > wrote:

> Fred McKenzie wrote:
> > Regarding Key Lime Pies:
> >
> > Most recipes I've seen, call for a half cup of Key Lime Juice. However
> > that seems to make an extremely strong pie.
> >
> > I'm using home-grown Key Limes, not the store-bought limes from Mexico.
> > They are fully ripe, not picked green. Does this explain the extra
> > strong taste, or could there be some other reason?
> >
> > Fred
>
>
> My guess is the recipes are for Key(tm) lime juice (Persian lime juice
> in a cleverly labeled bottle, not really Key Limes)
>
> Try backing off to 1/3 cup of juice and see how it works. Or dilute
> the juice with bottled lemon juice. (ouch. People just started
> throwing things at me)

Wimps. I use 2/3 cup of key lime juice for a 9" pie. I do, however,
use Mexican limes, which are closer to the original Key Limes than the
larger Persians. I refuse to use bottled lime juice, which tastes stale
and skanky to me. Many (most?) of the bottled products that claim to be
"Key Lime Juice" are actually made from Persians.

I grew up in South Florida, and sampled KLP from a lot of recipes and
restaurants. My all-time favorite is from Mangrove Mama's, a cozy
little bar & restaurant on Sugarloaf Key (milepost 20). You can find
several alleged versions of their recipe via Google. Here's the one
that I use, as posted to usenet a few years back:

<http://groups.google.com/group/seattle.eats/msg/1f7796e96e35ab58?hl=en>

--
Julian Vrieslander

On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 04:06:24 -0800, Julian Vrieslander
> wrote:

><http://groups.google.com/group/seattle.eats/msg/1f7796e96e35ab58?hl=en>

I'm in the meringue camp. Picked that up from the years of
vacationing in Florida as a kid.

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

sf wrote:
> On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 04:06:24 -0800, Julian Vrieslander
> > wrote:
>
>
>> <http://groups.google.com/group/seattle.eats/msg/1f7796e96e35ab58?hl=en>
>>
>
> I'm in the meringue camp. Picked that up from the years of
> vacationing in Florida as a kid.


The best Key Lime Pie I ever had, was made with a typical pie crust and
they used meringue that seemed like it was 6 inches thick. That pie was
so awesome, George wanted to marry the cook. We were in nowheresville,
on the island of Roatan, one of the Bay Islands of Honduras.


BTW, thanks to Julian for the recipe.


Becca

In article >,
sf > wrote:

> I'm in the meringue camp.

Floridians, and other true believers of the KLP religion, are divided
into factions on this issue. Most restaurants seem to go with a
towering meringue, maybe because it looks more impressive, or because
that's what customers expect. I take a generous dollop of real whipped
cream (not the stuff from a can) next to my slice. To me, the texture
and flavor are a better counterpoint to a tart KLP.

--
Julian Vrieslander

On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:50:52 -0800, Julian Vrieslander
> wrote:

>In article >,
> sf > wrote:
>
>> I'm in the meringue camp.
>
>Floridians, and other true believers of the KLP religion, are divided
>into factions on this issue. Most restaurants seem to go with a
>towering meringue, maybe because it looks more impressive, or because
>that's what customers expect. I take a generous dollop of real whipped
>cream (not the stuff from a can) next to my slice. To me, the texture
>and flavor are a better counterpoint to a tart KLP.

Huh. To me (not overly sweet) meringue is the perfect counterpoint...
you don't eat lemon pie with meringue? Whipped cream belongs on
pumpkin pie, gingerbread cake and strawberry shortcake.

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

"Fred McKenzie" > wrote in message
...
| Regarding Key Lime Pies:
|
| Most recipes I've seen, call for a half cup of Key Lime Juice. However
| that seems to make an extremely strong pie.
|
| I'm using home-grown Key Limes, not the store-bought limes from Mexico.
| They are fully ripe, not picked green. Does this explain the extra
| strong taste, or could there be some other reason?
|
| Fred

There is great variance in home-grown fruit, as you know. The one
recipe I would stand by is the one from Joe's Stone Crabs in Miami,
"Eat at Joe's," which specifies: 3 egg yolks, grated zest of 2 limes,
about 1 1/2 teaspoon, 14 oz condensed milk and 2/3 C key lime
juice. Definitely key limes, perhaps yours are somewhat bitter,
which would only show up in cooking as they are overwhelming to
the taste and you might not detect the bitterness from the juice
alone. Suggestion would be to make the recipe with commercial
key limes and see if there is any difference. I've spent about 30
years trying and am still not satisfied but Joe's recipe is the closest
to that of Joe's restaurant in Miami, which is the absolute best that
I have ever had. Fun, isn't it?

pavane

In article >, Andy > wrote:

> That certainly would depend on the recipe as a whole. Also if it calls
> for any measure of lime zest that will also tarten it up some.

Bob and Andy-

I see that one recipe calls for one tablespoon of zest, but another
calls for one teaspoon.

It would also be reasonable to cut the lime juice to 1/3 cup. There
should still be plenty of key lime flavor. I found another recipe that
uses 1/4 cup of juice.

Thanks for the prompt responses.

Fred

In article >, Andy > wrote:

> Another mention, the more you take away and depending on the size of the
> pie plate, the shallower the pie will be. Probably not by much though. Or
> use a smaller diameter pie plate?
>
> Maybe the sugar measure is deficient?

I checked with the cook! This recipe was for 2 teaspoons of zest, but
it was tightly packed. That is the most likely source of the extra
tartness.

Going from 1/2 cup to 1/3 cup is a reduction of 1 1/3 ounces.

The pie was sweet enough. Do you think more sugar would reduce the
sense of tartness?

Fred