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The History of Key Lime Pie
The origins of Key Lime Pie are somewhat mysterious but interesting. We will also break down what’s in Sweet Grass’s infused Key Lime Pie so you get a piece of our history while you savor bites of this traditional baked treat!
Key Lime Pie Origins and Today
There is an old story known as common knowledge that Key Lime Pie was created by a woman known as “Aunt Sally”. She lived in Florida in the 1800s and historical records indicate she did exist. Aunt Sally was the cook of a ship salvager and millionaire named Willie Curry who built a mansion for his family in 1855 known as the Curry Mansion Inn.
The theories include that Aunt Sally concocted Key Lime Pie in the Curry Mansion from a lemon icebox pie recipe but used local key limes instead of lemons. Another theory is that she was influenced by sponge fishermen in the Keys. These fishermen had meager rations of food, such as canned milk and citrus fruit, and the key lime pies became a staple on their fishing trips.
The Key Lime pie became the official Florida state pie in 2006. Today you can find Key Lime Pie at nearly every restaurant in the Florida Keys. Also, a Key Lime Pie festival happens every year in July in Key West, Florida – that’s how crazy they are about these pies!
Original Recipe
The earliest known Key Lime Pie recipe dates back to a near-identical recipe found in 1931. This may be because a New York condensed milk company put out advertisements for a Magic Lemon Cream Pie recipe. The ads most likely made their way to Florida sometime in the 1930s and ‘40s. So it’s very likely the lemons were swapped out for limes for the first written recipes.
Interestingly, the star ingredient of the recipe – key limes – was originally from Malaysia and probably arrived in Florida in the 1500s. A hurricane in 1926 wiped out most of the key lime plantations in Southern Florida and so many farmers replanted them with Persian limes. Today key limes are grown for commercial use in Miami.
The key ingredients in the traditional recipe include key lime juice, sweetened condensed milk, and egg yolks. Some recipes make the crust with graham crackers or a pastry crust.
Sweet Grass Key Lime Pie
Sweet Grass started making cannabis infused baked goods in 2009 in Denver, Colorado. A couple of years later we started baking infused Key Lime Pies and this year marks the 10th anniversary of Sweet Grass making these signature pies!
Ingredients and Cannabutter
Sweet Grass’s Key Lime Pie has many of the ingredients from the first recipes including:
- Sweetened condensed milk
- Sugar
- All-purpose flour
- Key Lime Juice
- Eggs
- Salt
- Baking powder
- Vanilla extract
- Sweet Grass Cannabutter
When making our cannabutter, the cannabis flower is first decarboxylated, which activates the cannabinoids to feel their effects. We then extract the cannabinoids of cannabis flower into a fat. Cannabinoids like THC are fat-soluble, so with cannabutter, you will absorb a good amount. When cannabutter is added to food the cannabinoids must pass through the liver to be metabolized. So the effects may not be felt for up to two hours after eating and may last six hours or more.
The shortbread crust is the only cannabutter-infused part of the pie. The pies are baked to perfection with a deliciously tart and creamy key lime filling. Our recreational pies have 10mg of THC in each pie and our medical pies have 75mg of THC in each pie. Sweet Grass Key Lime Pies must be kept at 41 degrees F and can be frozen for up to 6 months after purchase. Please keep out of reach from children and pets.
Where to Find Sweet Grass Key Lime Pies
Sweet Grass makes our seasonal Key Lime Pies every year in limited runs in June – July. You can find these delectable baked treats starting June 28 at these fine retailers in Colorado. They make a great dessert for your adult friends and family at any summer event, including for the 4th of July!
