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Every Tuesday at 7:42 a.m. and 5:18 p.m., Tom Harte shares a few thoughts on food and shares recipes. A founder of “My Daddy’s Cheesecake,” a bakery/café in Cape Girardeau, a food columnist for The Southeast Missourian, and a cookbook author, he also blends his passion for food with his passion for classical music in his daily program, The Caffe Concerto.

A Harte Appetite: The Key Lime - a "Key" Ingredient

Many dishes rely on a vital ingredient, in risotto it's arborio rice, in ailoi it's garlic and in anything called Florentine it's spinach. But of all the dishes that depend on a critical or key ingredient, surely key lime pie heads the list.

Key lime pie is of the course the most famous of the culinary creations made with the key lime. Variously called "The Mexican," "West Indian" or "Bartender" lime, the key lime is significantly different than its cousin the Persian lime, the kind most commonly found at produce counters around here.

The key lime is smaller and rounder than the Persian variety and its color is closer to yellow than to green. Aficionados claim it has more flavor than a regular lime. Key limes are especially high in vitamin C which is why they were eaten by British sailors in the 18th century to fend off scurvy and that is how those sailors got the nickname, "Limey."

They key lime was brought to the Key West region by Spanish explorers in the 16th century so its technically an exotic fruit since the primary meaning of that term is "coming from another country."

Recipes for key lime pie abound and I've seen more than one claiming to be the original. Typically they contain sweetened condensed milk. They're variously topped with meringue or whipped cream and there are baked and unbaked versions.

If you can't find key limes you can resort to bottled lime juice instead. I suspect it's used in restaurants more often than we'd like to think...even in Key West.

And while you're at it, don't stop with pie. Key limes can be used in cakes, cookies and even in main dishes, too. You might try using them in place of lemons as a "key" ingredient in some of your favorite recipes.

Tom Harte is a retired faculty member from Southeast Missouri State University where he was an award-winning teacher, a nationally recognized debate coach, and chair of the department of Speech Communication and Theatre.
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