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Food

In key lime pie we trust

Having beat back the North Florida pecan pie lobby and brushed aside a nascent chicken pot pie push, key lime pie lovers in the Florida Senate moved one step closer last week to naming the key lime pie Florida's official state pie.

By JONI JAMES
Published March 15, 2006

Having beat back the North Florida pecan pie lobby and brushed aside a nascent chicken pot pie push, key lime pie lovers in the Florida Senate moved one step closer last week to naming the key lime pie Florida's official state pie.

The only question: When will the Florida House get on board? Or even more pertinent to foodies, will the official state pie be with or without meringue?

Both chambers have bills this year to grant the sweetly tart concoction regal status. And at the first hearing in a Florida Senate committee, the result was a slam dunk, 6-0, even though sponsor Sen. Larcenia Bullard, D-Miami, failed to have any samples to bolster her case. After one more committee, the pie vote is headed to the Senate floor.

None of the three committees in the House has scheduled a vote on the bill, and some wonder if Panama City House Speaker Allan Bense is to blame. Since at least 1988, North Florida lawmakers have said that a pie made of pecans - grown all across the Panhandle - would better reflect the state's history. Lately, the chicken pot pie has also drawn some fans.

Towson Fraser, Bense's spokesman, claims no subterfuge: "He tries not to tell committee chairmen what to hear or not hear on controversial issues. And this is one of them.''

But what flavor does the speaker prefer?

"I've not seen him eat pie in any form,'' Fraser deadpans. "I have no personal knowledge of his pie preference.''

Though key lime pie is a staple in restaurants across the state, the tiny tart fruit is not grown commercially here anymore, says Don Pybas of the Miami-Dade County Cooperative Extension. The industry was wiped out in the 1926 hurricane and many growers replanted with hearty Persian limes. Those groves were decimated by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Today, most key lime trees in Florida are in people's yards. The bulk of the key limes we see in grocery stores are Mexican.

No matter. The key lime pie was born in the Florida Keys in the 1850s and still says Florida to people all around the world.

[Last modified March 15, 2006, 13:32:57]