Key Lime Pie: Is it REALLY Worth It???

And by "worth it" I mean worth the work. And by "work" I mean juicing eighteen little key limes for their precious juice.  And by "juicing" I mean cutting the little lovelies in half and sticking them in a garlic press and squishing the crap, or rather the juice, out of them.  Can you do the math? That's right.  Count 'em.  Thirty-six (yup. 36) presses.  Whew.

Ok. So the question of the day remains: Is making REAL key lime pie worth the 36 presses???  We. Shall. See.

Literally.  We shall.  Because I took it to a vote.


Now let's back up just a little so I can tell you how I ended up squishing 36 squishes.  My friend, Celina, is currently a guest blogger on her friend Jewel's food blog.  So when she posted her recipe for Key Lime Pie (click here! make the pie!) I was taken aback.  I had never had key lime pie!  And me, a self professed pie lover! Especially of the fruit variety! (I'm quoting myself from the comment section of Celina's blog post, fyi)

So that was it.  I needed to make it. 

As I made my BELOVED key lime pie (yes, BELOVED. Could anyone put that much work into something and NOT call it BELOVED??) I couldn't help but wonder if anyone would even notice that I used fresh key limes.  (Well, as fresh and can be expected this far north.) And since I was making this pie for a birthday party I figured that maybe I should make two pies; one real key lime and one fake (the juice of two regular limes and bottled regular lime juice... I got sick of juicing) and put it to a test.

Blow the whistle! We're havin' a pie-off!!!

Pie vs Pie.  

Meet the Judges!!

(L) Cara: Eating for two.   (R) Courtney: Birthday girl and all around artistic genius.

Genesis: Teenager. Hates key lime pie.

Kari: Brings herbs back from France to make us salad.

Karie: Mother of two, former ballerina, married to a Brit.

Andrew: Resident craft beer expert and Aeropress user.

Eva: Six years old. Loves a party. Has a hard time saying the letter "L".

Here's how it went down.

I labelled the real key lime pie "Pie #1" and the fake key lime pie "Pie #2".  My decision to make this a blind taste test was twofold;  it would assure that the judges wouldn't be swayed by their compassion for me and my 36 squishes while at the same time creating mystery and thereby upping the fun factor.

The judges came to the table and tasted each pie.  Some of them took one taste of each and quickly proclaimed their decision while others lingered, taking a taste of one then of the other and then back to the first, heavily weighing their decision.  And then there were those who tasted, thought, tasted again, thought some more, decided to have a full piece of one and then a full piece of the other and talked about their process (verbal processors - gotta love 'em) and then finally made their decision after exhausting all possible analytical discussion on the topic.

It was universally agreed upon that the pies were distinctly different.  Pie #1 (real) had a much stronger lime flavour than Pie #2 (fake).

In the end, the results were these:

Pie #2 (fake) - 4 votes
Pie #1 (real) - 3 votes

The FAKE key lime pie won 4 to 3!!!


Ok, now hold on for just a minute.  We're going to break things down and look a bit deeper into these results.

These are the people that picked Pie #2 - The Fake

Cara - she's pregnant.  We all know what hormones can do to your taste buds. 

Genesis - she's a teenager. And she hates all things lime.  So of COURSE she's going to hate #2 less than she hates #1.

Eva - she's 6.  I think that about explains it.

Karie - What's up with Karie?  I don't know... conservative palate?  

These are the people that picked Pie #1 - The Real Key Lime 

Courtney - is a Foodie.

Kari - is a Foodie.

Andrew - is a Foodie.

Draw what conclusions you may.

I felt that my vote couldn't be included in the official results because of my lack of objectivity (36! squishes).  However,  the panel of judges really wanted to know what my pick was so I tried to base my decision solely on taste.  

My pick?  Pie #1 (The Real Key Lime)!

So, is making REAL key lime pie worth the 36 presses???

The answer?

Definitely. Sometimes.