Kermits Key Lime Pie Shoppe
The Best Key Lime Pie at Kermit's in Key West Florida
The fragrance of key limes is unforgettable and Key Lime pie is surely food of the gods. Once, when visiting friends in West Palm Beach, Florida, we stepped into their back garden deck after dinner and were greeted by the most wonderful waft of citrus I'd ever experienced. It was like the kind of fine, bright green floral citrus you might find in an exclusive parfum- only this was even better. It evoked tropical palms, warm, ocean-tinged breezes and a far-away exoticism that was intoxicating.
Scent has the power to take us places and at that moment, I was gone. Bringing myself back to West Palm Beach, I asked the host where it emanated from. He pointed to his key lime tree, and thus began my love affair with the fair fruit.
Originally from Asia, Key Limes are a special sort of citrus. They grow in warm, tropical-like climates and aren't nearly as resilient as their cousins the Persian limes, which most of us can readily access in our local grocery store. If it's too cold, they wither, and are prone to brownish scars on their green skins. Today most of the key lime juice available is from Mexico and Central America - but in recent years South Florida and its many keys have been growing more of the fickle fruit (commercial production pretty much ended in the mid-1920s due to a nasty hurricane).
If you've ever sampled "Key Lime Pie" only to discover that it's actually pie made with regular lime juice and a drop or two of food colouring, chances are your taste buds were sorely disappointed. The real Key Lime Pie, made with fresh key lime juice, egg yolks and condensed milk, is a major-league cut above the rest. There's something almost magical about the fragrant, sour quality of key lime juice that you just can't replicate using a Persian lime. The result is a rich, lip-smacking piece of goodness that's the perfect sweet finish to any meal.
I was reminded of this fact on a recent jaunt to Key West. Kermit Carpenter, baker extraordinaire and owner of Kermit's Key West Key Lime Shoppe(see photo), takes the Key Lime Pie approach just one step further. He started the often imitated, never quite duplicated trend of dipping pieces of his famous pie in chocolate and freezing them, popsicle style, for a piece of frozen, chocolate dipped key lime indulgence. The result is wonderfully over the top- you get to walk around Key West eating a unique treat created in the area.
If you go to Kermit's Key West Key Lime Shoppe's site, you'll even find a host of Kermit's wonderful Key Lime recipes- everything from guacamole to the venerable pie! And just think, the next time you bite into a piece of key lime pie, you're in good company. Key Limes were prized by ancient Romans as the ideal, fragrant grooming product- they even used the lime leaves to scent their bath water. How'd you like them apples, er...limes?!
