Thanks for watching Everyone! As always the recipes are in the description box. *So... Key Lime Pie. Going way out on a limb until people bring dated proof, but the 1935 Mack’s Place Key Lime Pie, is probably as close to original as we're going to get.*

I thought I might have an answer on my bookshelf. My mother was always fascinated by the origins of recipes, and I have her copy of "The United States Regional Cookbook," edited by Ruth Berolzheimer and published in 1937. The book is very much an historical look at food. Its lime pie is called "Florida Persian Lime Pie" and it seems to be the one without condensed milk that you preferred. It contains: 4 eggs, 1 large Persian lime or 11/2 small ones, grated rind of 1 lime, 1 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt. It was to be baked in a pastry shell. The recipe also says that "The first settlers of the Florida Keys found the small key limes growing in the rocky coral soil and used them. The present Persian lime grown now in Florida is comparatively new. The first Persian lime grove to be planted for commercial purposes was started in 1927 just south of Miami. I so enjoy your videos. Frederica Scobey, Minneapolis

My great grandma passed down a key lime pie recipe, just called lime pie that uses the same double boiler method you used. You’re the only channel ive seen that use that method. She has wrriten down to double boil for 20 minutes . Awesome stuff !

As a chef I've never put much stock it romanticized origins of recipes. 18 years ago I married my wife who's from Costa Rica and we moved there from the states and opened a restaurant. My mother-in-law made a lime pie exactly like the Mack's lime pie however she baked her pie in a water bath...it was the best lime pie I had ever eaten and I've eaten alot of lime pies as it my personal favorite. When asked about the recipe she said it was handed down from her mother (needless to say we put it on the menu). According to her story her mother had read in the paper another pie recipe where the meringue was incorporated into the base and baked, but she didn't like way the pie looked and baked it in a water bath which she like better. She was not sure what the original pie recipe was but her mother had baked the pie that way and that's the way she made it. I don't know the year and neither did my mother-in-law, but I know it may favorite and that it was the number one selling dessert at out restaurant. Thanks so much for doing a deep dive into the recipe and history its one hell of a pie!

Glen: Three pies is too much. Me: No.

Hailing from nowhere near Florida so take this with a grain of salt, I heard the key lime pie recipe was developed during the depression because they had a very difficult time getting fresh dairy on the island, which is also why true key lime pie never has whipped cream topping, only merengue. As an aside from a house nerd, I looked up 313 William Street in Key West on Zillow, and OMG, Mrs. McClanahan must have been well-to-do! It’s a huge Queen Anne style house with a double decker wraparound porch and guest cottage, surrounded by lush palm tree landscaping. Anyone interested in moving to Key West, it’s for sale for a mere $3,850,000!

Was re-watching this video when something occurred to me; being a fairly traditional southern cook for about 52 years now, and knowing how we work when we don't have a particular item on hand when in the midst of making a certain dish, I think I have an idea how the whole 'lime pie' thing came about. Most likely, a cook, (southern or not doesn't really matter), in the midst of making a usual lemon pie, realizing all she had were limes available to her, simply substituted the limes for the lemons. Probably a good thing it wasn't grapefruits! 😏

Wait, wait, wait, avocado pie! Why don't you do that my wife and I were idly watching when we heard that statement and we're instantly curious.

Dear Glen and friends cooking, My parents vacationed in the Florida keys, for 3 months every year from around 1975 to the late 1980's. They swear up and down to me that the best Key Lime Pies were green color. Even stating that there was a old warehouse/bakery, that they would go to (possibly on Key West itself) and get the pies where they were made on the actual islands. We took them down for a vacation down there in 2019 and finding someone making a green key lime pie from Islamorado on down to Key west that they wanted was like pulling hens teeth. We tested out many a key lime pie across the islands (all were delicious of course) but my parents were legitimately blown away that they had not gotten their beloved green pies sadly. I guess it became common place back in the day to food dye the pies back then because I started researching it just as you have with the original key lime pie recipe. Apparently in the 1940's greening a lemon or lime pie in florida became fairly popular and by the late 1950's early 1960's became common place at restaurants on the Keys. Matches up with my parents story pretty much made me far less aggravated since they insisted the pies were ALWAYS green! Figured id just mention this for posterity for someone else searching down the history of key lime pie's and such.

I regularly make the carnation recipe. It doesn’t contain egg and is no bake. I also recommend a ginger biscuit base.

when living in Fla. in the 70 s i was given a slice of key lime pie that i was told that it was the original key lime pie and judging by looks alone it appears to be pie number 3 with out meringue. It was very lime forward as i recall . At the time i was surprised because it did not look anything like i expected. i was very young and as i recall did not care much for it with the first bite due to the intense flaavor of the lime, by the time i finished the slice i really did like it and have been looking for the recipe for a long time so tyvm

Damn I just want to spend an evening eating and talking to Glen & Julie. They seem like excellent company.

I tried several recipes and the one my family and I like best is one made with Greek yogurt. I'm sure it's not 'authentic', etc. but it's the best lime pie in our opinion. It's still very easy to make too.

I wasn't aware that the key lime pie has as contentious a history as barbecue.

American's Test kitchen did a blind taste test that found “... that tasters could not tell the difference between pies made with regular supermarket limes (called Persian limes) and true “key” limes.”" Would be interesting to see you and Jules do a blind taste test and see if waiting for the key limes actually makes a difference! EDIT: Just saw the ending! Great minds think alike! Looking forward to the results.

“Three pies are too many pies.” BLASPHEMY.

Now you have me interested - I'd like to see that avocado pie!

I say eagle brand so people dont buy evaporated milk instead... also I find it strange that the pie recipe was right next to an article about prisoners murdering eachother and that they list the womans address as well lol

Three pies is too many pies *Gasps in Southern*

We tried the 1935 Mack’s Place Key Lime Pie, and it was REALLY good! Thanks for the recipe!

Omg my two favorite subjects combined Cooking and history Glad I randomly landed on this channel!

Oh geeez...any neighbours of yours selling their houses? Cuz i kinda want to be living next door to yous incase you need to get rid of some pies..

That headline at 15:17 though "McADOO PREDICTS LEGALIZED BEER" really tells you the era

Wow Glen thanks for the walk down memory lane. I'm Miami born and raised (1961) and grew up eating my mother's tremendous Key Lime pies. Simply key lime juice condensed milk and egg yolks. She made the most beautiful meringue I've ever seen, beautiful curly ques and valleys. Tender hand formed graham cracker crust. It had 1 drop of green food coloring because true key limes are yellow and to remind people its key lime. It was served vey cold almost frozen because it was so bracinly tart. I looked up her recipe card and lo and behold, attached were two other recipes for key lime pie. One a Florida post card, the other an article from the Miami Herald from 1975 referencing Fern Inn in Islamorada .But all were essentially the same. I guess my late mom knew it was a controversial thing too!!! ISouth Florida/ Keys version of Canadian Buter Tart !!

I made mack's place key lime pie this weekend and it was wonderful, I will make it again. My granddaughter was here and I showed her how to make a double boiler with a pan, and bowl. I also let her make the meringue, how to fold it into the egg yolk mixture, and how to fill the pie crust without making to big of a mess. U hope she remembers things like this when she grows up. Thank you for the recipe Glen.

My Key Lime story, since we helped create Florida and were some of the first self-made millionaires in Florida: History of Key Lime Pie: As to who made the first key lime pie, no one really knows for sure as it has never been documented. 1800s - William Curry (1821-1896), a ship salvager and Florida’s first self-made millionaire (commonly referred to as rich Bill), had a cook that was simply know as Aunt Sally. It was Aunt Sally who created the pie in the late 1800s. Some historians think that Aunt Sally didn’t create the Key Lime Pie, but probably perfected a delicacy that was the creation of area fishermen. William Curry built a lavish mansion for his family in 1855 that still is being used today as the Curry Mansion Inn. I do not know if this story is true, but it is widely repeated. One theory is that Aunt Sally already knew how to make a lemon ice box pie which also uses sweetened, condensed milk and egg yolks. But instead of lemons, she used the readily available local key limes. Sponge Fishermen: Another theory on who first made Key Lime Pie is that sponge fishermen around Key West used to stay at sea for quite a while. Sponge fishing was a booming new business in South Florida but the margins were slim so the rations were meager on his boat - some sugar, eggs, canned milk, soda crackers, some nuts, and citrus fruit. Word spread quickly among the fisherman and the cool tart pie became a staple on those fishing trips. One of these men, maybe even the one who made that inaugural pie, shared the recipe with some woman folk. Perhaps he shared it with Aunt Sally! 1930s - It was not until the 1930s that the first recipes were written down. Until then everyone just knew how to make the pie. No fresh milk, no refrigeration, and no ice was available in the Keys until the arrival of tank trucks with the opening of the Overseas Highway in 1930. Because of this lack of milk, local cooks had to rely on canned sweetened condensed milk, which was invented in 1856 by Gail Borden. Key lime may be the star ingredient of the key lime pie, but it is the sweetened condensed milk that makes it so smooth and delicious. Key limes are the pink flamingos of Florida food, and they are a celebrated part of local color. The key lime tree, which is native to Malaysia, probably first arrived in the Florida Keys in the 1500s with the Spanish. Key limes look like confused lemons, as they are smaller than a golf ball with yellow-green skin that is sometimes splotched with brown. They are also know as Mexican or West Indian limes. When a hurricane in 1926 wiped out the key lime plantations in South Florida, growers replanted with Persian limes, which are easier to pick and to transport. Today the key lime is almost a phantom and any remaining trees are only found in back yards and their fruit never leave the Florida Keys. Key limes are also grown for commercial use in the Miami area. 1965 - Florida State Representative Bernie Papy, Jr. introduced legislation calling for a $100 fine to be levied against anyone advertising key lime pie that is not made with key limes. This bill did not pass. In 1994 - The Florida State Legislature officially recognized Key Lime Pie as an important symbol of Florida. The road to becoming the official state pie, was not an easy one. Since the 1980s, North Florida lawmakers have debated that a pie made of pecans, grown in Florida, would better reflect the state’s history. House Bill 453 and Senate Bill 676 of the Florida Legislature’s Regular 2006 Session made the Key Lime Pie the official Florida state pie as of July 1, 2006. Sources: Bahama Currys. The Curry Family of Monroe County, Florida. The Remarkable History of the Key Lime Pie, by Scott Hutcheson SB 676 - Official State Pie/Key Lime.

I have been watching this channel occasionally for some time, but nowadays have been watching it more often. Really like the history and documentation parts of the videos. Keep up the good work!

I always say sweetened condensed milk. I've been on food websites for many years, and if you say condensed milk, you'll get a ton of questions about whether it's sweetened condensed or evaporated. I just think it's more concise to include the sweetened. Now I can't wait to make the one with the meringue folded in!

I have actually made an atypical key-lime pie like the one you are considering the 3rd pie and it was quite lovely. I FEEL like I got that recipe from the late-great Gourmet Magazine circa 2004? I made it for a pie contest and lost and I decided that the judges were idiots. Great episode.

I just made the mack's place pie. Sooo fricken delish......winnerwinner chicken dinner. Omg. So delish. Thank you. For the recipe. My egg whites did not peak. So decided to still go for it. And it turned out still. Next time I'm take it slow when making this. Thank you again. Love your vids. Be safe from Vancouver.

Mabel McLenahan's like "You're God damn Right that's my pie"

I just made my grandmother's key lime pie recipe for the first time yesterday. No condensed milk, thickened in double boiler, egg whites folded in, 4 eggs, unflavored gelatin, fresh lime juice & zest, not baked.

Loved this segment! Thanks for the history lesson! Key Lime pie is my all-time favorite pie! As a Floridian, we do love this pie, it's served in almost every restaurant. Fun fact: On July 1, 2006, the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate both passed legislation {HB 453} and {SB 676} selecting "Key lime pie" as the official pie of the state of Florida.

Glen: "The conclusion is there is no conclusion." ha, ha. I love it. Thanks.

Mrs Beetons (English cooking book, published in 1861) talks about a lemon meringue flan using the cornflour/lemon mixture. We started using the condensed milk method in the 1950's as it was easier to make. Condensed milk here automatically means sweetened. Evaporated milk is a different product, produced by a different method and is not sweetened. Lemon meringue tart/flan is by no means an American invention. Key lime pie is just a version of this using a different citrus. Thank you for your programme. It was interesting to see the 3 different ways you made them.

I grew up on the east coast of the US and now live on the west coast - we've always called it Sweetened Condensed Milk. Which is probably for the better, since many people here seem to get confused between "condensed milk" and "evaporated milk." My grandfather (who fought in WWI) liked evap milk in his coffee - I imagine it was a holdover from war-time rationing. It's a little thicker, richer, and very slightly sweeter than regular milk, but it does have that "cooked" taste and that slight golden color. In their fridge there was always a little can of Carnation evap with two holes punched in the top and covered with a piece of plastic wrap secured with a rubber band. And because I like to add booze to all kind of things, I will often splash a little tequila into a lime or lemon pie. The ones made with sweetened condensed milk we usually called "ice box pies," I think because some recipes called for them to be chilled without being baked. But since there are raw eggs in there, I prefer to bake them before they go into the ice box.

11:48 I kind of love old news papers and magazines, you could sometimes order the oddest things off them. Like here they're advertising pet "Easter" bunnies, groceries, and cigarettes next to a recipe for pies. I remember finding an old newspaper as a kid (late 90s/early 2000s but the paper was decades old) where they were advertising exotic pets like llamas, monkeys, snakes, and even chimps and my dad remembered see ads for a pet lion or cheetah in the late 50s/early 60s and around the same time a local pet store ran an ad for awhile for an exotic animal business that rented exotic animals for events, so they had a trained chimp they'd dress up for grand openings. My dad saw the chimp, and as you'd expect it pelted someone with poop, and my grandma remembers her kids trying to get her to take them to some grand opening that had a gorilla in a cage (all of these were rented through the aforementioned exotic animal company)

Just to add more confusion to the Eagle Brand pies -- When I make one, I also put in a block of softened cream cheese blended with the juice of choice and the Eagle Brand. Yummy

In the South, I grew up on lemon ice box pie which is the same as your key lime pie (juice, egg yolks and condensed milk blended and poured into GC crust and then topped with beattened egg whites) except lemon juice is used. These were served at every major group or family dinner social.

I'm from the U.S. and have never seen or heard of key lime pie with meringue. Most I have seen have whipped cream added when serving with added lime zest on top.

What a delightful video! "The lime is MUTED!"

Avocado pie? I hope Glen makes one for us friends someday!

Glen, You totally nerded out on this one and I love it!

I love how glen always does his research & informs us of the origins & the history behind the recipes. Cracking channel mate, really enjoy your content. Keep it up 👍🏽

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS! Lime pie is my all time favorite. I'm SO glad you finally did this! Avocado Pie!? Please for the love of sumo, do a video for Avocado Pie!

I was in Florida when I had my first key lime pie, never new it existed before this experience. Life changing! I am thankful to Florida for this find.

I've always said "condensed milk " as I thought it was implied that it was sweetened. Carnation is the brand i'm most familiar with. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I can't find the history of it online anywhere, but is it possible that the sour orange pie came about prior to any of these, and that is what turned into key lime pie? I'm asking because that seems to be a strictly Florida recipe that people don't talk about much.

When I was growing up in the 50’s, the pie without meringue was one of my mom’s specialities that she brought to church suppers and so forth. Sometimes she made it with lemon, which was also wonderful. I’m pretty sure she submitted it to at least one church cookbook, but my daughter now has my cookbook collection, so I can’t check. This was in rural Iowa.

Here in New Zealand, condensed milk always has 'sweetened' in the name, but we just refer to it as condensed milk, since the 'sweetened' is assumed. Nestlé's 'Highlander' brand is probably our most popular. Interestingly, the cans used to be 400 grams, but somewhere while I was growing up it went down to 397 grams.

Excellent segment, as always. Thank you! The popularity of these types of pies in the period between the world wars has to do with another exciting "new" change in culinary tools of the time; the availability of relatively inexpensive electric (or other mechanical) refrigeration. Look through the plethora of refrigerator manufactures' cookbooks from the same period. None is complete without a citrus juice pie recipes very similar to two of your lime pies. A substantial offering of these period recipes relied on condensed milk to make them simple and fool proof using the lower temps available with an electric refrigerator, even in warmer climates. Translucent starch and water (and sometimes egg yolk) pies can be touchy for the inexperienced cook. Also remember, there was very little air conditioning at that time so indoor temps were well above what we would endure today. Your favorite pie would not rely the lower cold of the electric refrigerator to keep set and thus it would have been fine even with lesser refrigeration using solely ice.

This is very interesting. Lime pie are phenomenal! My Mom would make lemon meringue pies on regular pie crust. YUM 😉

As someone whose family owned land in the Keys, but has been in Charleston since the 1600s, we have a handwritten version passed down. My grandmother made Key Lime Pie the same way her family would make it: the third version that you made. Though my mother stopped that tradition and we make key lime pie (without the meringue) like the second version and add zest. We prefer a smoother texture and stronger key lime flavor with whipped cream added afterwards. I don’t think we added sour cream like some do.

Oregonian here, I say sweetened only when trying to distinguish it from evaporated.

I do not know how I missed this video. I've been watching your channel from way back. I just have to say the common key lime pie that I grew up eating had condensed milk and evaporated milk. One ingredient I did not see in any of them was the zest of the key limes. It was the ingredient that elevated the Key line flavor. In my opinion, using the zest covered up the evaporated milk flavor.

cooking from cans.. dangerous habit.. Living dangerously in the kitchen? Love the video. Thank You.

Some more florida food history that is intersting is the honeybell tangelo, my absolute favorite citrus. If youve not had any, i DEFINITELY DEFINITELY recommend you try them. The absolute best citrus ive ever had in my life. As someone who worked at a produce stand in orlando for several years and trying things from all around the world, they are amazing and a citrus that cannot be beat for their taste.

Georgia. We say "Sweetened Condensed Milk". And yeah - even we know condensed milk is sweetened. Regional thing, I suppose.

Brilliant idea to go back in history. I’m going to make Mac’s to check it out.

The 1936 recipe compares Lime Pies to Lemon and Orange Pies; this maybe implies that Lemon Pies already existed and were a known thing (from the Bordon cookbook perhaps) and Lime Pies are a new (at the time) variation on them.

In OH on the edge of Appalachia: sweetened condensed milk even though we know all condensed milk is sweetened. Evaporated milk is not sweetened and always has vitamin D added.

Love key lime pie!! Just made one for my son's birthday! (His request) I will definitely be trying the method I have never seen before with the whites folded into the lime mixture. Interesting. I actually have a bag of key limes so will be doing it soon. Surprisingly though, none of these recipes called for any lime zest! Thank you for doing this!! 3x!!

It's amazing how much it feels like you are speaking directly to the viewer, I dunno how you can muster the enthusiasm you do just talking to a camera.

My wife makes it as a double recipe with 3 whole eggs total, bakes it at a lower temp (325) for longer (30 minutes or so) and uses whipped cream for the topping. It tastes way better the next day after being in the fridge. The lower temperature and higher volume makes it caramelize.

This is excellent. The history behind key lime pie through records, the Herald, etc is great but no one is going to print their sacred full recipe in print. I loved the honest taste testing, etc. I'm also in Canada (NS) and thought I could never produce a true key lime pie without local/fresh/in-season key limes. But I will give it a go & try!

Wow Glenn, you can read my mind. Just yesterday I bought all the stuff to make a key lime pie for the very first time! Never made it before , you are right on time!

Just love the amount of research that went into this episode! Thanks for this.

What is for me the authentic key lime pie was made by Greenberg's Bakery in New York City, a pate brisee tart crust filled with key lime curd - lime juice, eggs, sugar, butter, thickened in a double-boiler - edged with scallops of whipped cream. Outstanding combination of textures and flavors.

The orange pie mentioned in paper regarding a contest sounds good :)

Wholesome. That what I always think in my head watching your stuff.

My word. I love your videos. The research and history you included in these history recipes. So wonderful!

I love these historical cooking videos. Thank you so much!!

Wow, you really went down a rabbit hole with this one.

Great great series. Thank you

Glen: Three pies is too much. Me: YES :)

Key Lime Pie is my absolute favorite. Thank you for all the historical info and the best recipe.

Glen I love your passion. Keep searching and experimenting!

This is my favorite kind of session Glen! Thank you for the work you put into this and all your recipes. I love the mack's place recipe. Florida and the Caribbean have had sugarcane and sugar refining/milling as an industry since the 1600's. What I remember from my first drive through the keys was deep blue seas, storm clouds, incredibles rainbows, roadside fishing, chicken's on the side of the road, beautiful sunshine and sunsets. Honestly didn't see any limes but was told I missed the season since it was February. But there you go, just three (ok 4/5 with salt and the crust) simple ingredients that have been readily available in the keys for centuries. It just makes sense. I live in Asia and just happen to only have access to "key"limes which I am going to pick up from the fruit stand tomorrow...my biggest problem is not having graham crackers for crust...i think i have some digestive crackers that will do the trick:)

This is quite fabulous. I love pie and love finding older recipes. I have my grandmother’s cookbooks from the early 1900’s and there are some gems in them. I will have to try that last pie you made. It is very interesting.

l loved hearing the history behind the pie. Thank you!

Keep up with the history of the food! Love it!

Fantastic compare/contrast! I’m definitely making your favorite of the three! Wonderful episode!

I love key lime pie and have to try making one and see how it turns out. Thanks for sharing your recipes and wish you all a great rest of the week.

This was a fun episode..I am gonna try Macks.

If that's too many pies, I'd volunteer to help you eat them!

Nice! I will be making that old Mack's. Thanks!

Avocado pie!!!???...interesting...might have to try that, Avocado and Peanut butter sandwiches are great!

Ooooo thank you for sharing a non dairy Lime Pie! Lactose intolerant here

I've never had a Key Lime Pie with meringue. Which is a good thing for me.

This episode was so much fun! Looking forward to more. This has the same vibe as your KFC and Coke series - and those are clear winners. I want more Lime Pie episodes!

thank you for all of the research!

I've been watching for 6-8 months now and I really appreciate the history you add when talking about a recipe. Great videos. Keep it up. Will you have a Squozen Cola shirt?

The fact that non of these pies had lime zest is strange -sad The taste is greatly enhanced

The number one thing about key lime pie is that you have to have limes available first. So it strengthens the likelihood that it originated in Florida or at least the south. Much the same way that Rum is made in the Carribbean because that's where the sugar cane was grown.

I'm a Florida native and a lover of key lime pie. Modern day key lime pie to me feels more like a tart than a pie, that 1935 pie looks the most like a proper key lime pie. I might have to try making that.

Great episode, Glen.

My key lime pie recipe I self published in our Medical Cannabis Advocates of Key West Weed and Seed Cookbook. It was made with a soy milk key lime pudding and graham crust with cannibutter. 🤗🖖

I really like this kind of episodes

Evaporated milk - unsweetened, condensed milk. Condensed milk - sweetened condensed milk. It depends on where you live. If you want to qualify the milk by adding one word, does it really matter? This has been a great video. Thankyou. All that research. Glad you did that and not me.. it was very interesting.

Glen! I loved this video. First video I’ve seen from you, I will now be watching more. Thanks for the history. I’m on the hunt for the best key lime pie recipe for my boyfriends birthday (his favorite).