Last time I was in the FL Keys (~ 5 years ago) we stopped at one of the long-time roadside restaurants that is known for their key lime pie, and I asked about the source of their limes (wanting to buy some locally grown fruit).
They said their last local source lost too many trees in a hurricane a number years ago and shut down their operation, so now they use Mexican limes imported from Mexico instead. Though the proprietor said she has an old key lime tree at home that she uses for her own uses, there just wasnāt any local source that was able to keep up with their needs during tourist season. I imagine itās similar for most places in the Keys.
ā¦ of which there are several cultivars. There is the small-fruited thorned cultivar, a generic cultivar, and the so-called sweet lime, and likely more but without the name āMexicanā attached. Note that the Spanish grew limes in central America centuries before Swingle introduced them to FL.
I am Dutch, and if never seen the word āKeiā be used to describe something as tropical. Itās used to emphasize some-one is good at something. Or used to describe a stone.
Do you maybe have a source for ākeiā meaning tropical in the Dutch language?
For what itās worth, the Oxford English Dictionary holds that the ākeyā in ākey limeā refers to āa low-lying island or reef, esp. in the Caribbean or off the south coast of Florida,ā and gives the etymology for ākeyā in that sense as a variant spelling of ācayā, derived from the sixteenth-century Spanish cayo, meaning āshoal, rock, barrier reef.ā The origin of cayo is uncertain but the OED speculates that it may be the same as the French quai, or alternatively that it may have derived from an Antillean loan word.
Theyāre word experts, not fruit experts, though.
@JinMA
Yes. The FL ākeyā and the Dutch "ākeiā are of different origin. The name ākei limeā existed long before Swingle introduced limes to FL. Further, the British mis-transliterated ākei limeā to ākey limeā in the eastern hemisphere. Then, due to the location of plantings the name ākey limeā also arose in FL but not for the same cultivar - nor even the same subspecies.
Histories of the origins of fruits in various parts of the world.
Back to the original topic, I sent CCPP an inquiry about the reference to āwood pocketā in the description of the Giant Key Lime, and Rock Christiano responded with a link to this lengthy summary of the disease, which is very informative and didnāt come up in my googling earlier:
He also said heās never seen any sign of wood pocket on their Giant Key Lime specimen, but has seen it on some of the Tahitian limes, so heās not sure where that note in the database came from.
Wait Iād missed this part. Are you saying that ākei limeā didnāt refer to Citrus x aurantiifolia? What was the kei lime then? Because Citrus x aurantiifolia is definitely the main lime you find planted in the Florida Keys.
You originally seemed to be saying that key lime pie doesnāt usually use Citrus x aurantifolia (which is true everywhere except the Florida Keys), not that ākey limeā and ākei limeā donāt refer to the same subspecies. Iām re-reading your posts and that is what it seems like you meant.
So @Richard can you please state clearly and without snark, what subspecies was kei lime if it wasnāt Citrus x aurantifolia (the lime known as key lime in the Florida Keys)?
I think itās only fair @Richard for you to clarify what you meant after derailing this thread with what Iāll admit is a very interesting tangent. So please correct any misunderstanding in this summary:
Most restaurants that serve key lime pie use Tahitian limes (at least outside the FL Keys)
The name ākey limeā is used in the Florida Keys to refer to Citrus x aurantifolia, and was likely adopted due to a false association made at the time between the Dutch word ākeiā and the English ākey/cayā for island, the latter of which was derived from Spanish ācayoā rather than the Dutch word
āKeiā was already in use by the Dutch to refer to a different type of lime (not yet specified in this thread and nothing authoritative came up in google)
So youāre really choosing to have this condescending and vague response be your last contribution to this conversation you started and then never clarified? If you were mistaken, then thatās fine, but if you were not mistaken and you can educate us on a bit of lime history that would be great! This earlier post comes real close, but leaves out one crucial detail (scientific names for these two different types of lime):
This version of the history of Florida-grown key limes is contrary to the way itās described in most sources I can find. Wikipediaās version, which cites a history book I cannot verify easily says this:
In California in the late 19th century, āMexicanā limes were more highly valued than lemons; however, in Florida, they were generally considered weeds. Then, in 1894ā95, the Great Freeze destroyed the Florida lemon groves, and farmers replanted Mexican limes instead; they soon became known as the Florida Key Lime, a ābeloved regional cropā. But when the 1926 Miami hurricane ripped them up, they were replanted with the hardier, thornless Persian limes.
Are you claiming that Floridians now call locally-grown Persian limes ākey limesā? Because if thatās what youāre claiming itās patently false. If anything, most south Floridians bemoan the lack of commercially available āreal key limes,ā by which they mean Citrus aurantiifolia (Christm.) Swingle, the locally ānaturalizedā lime in south Florida and the Florida Keys, as noted in this info sheet from the Forest Service:
That is the species(/hybrid?) that everyone in the Florida Keys calls ākey limeā and thatās the one that has been traditionally used there to make ākey lime pie.ā
Most key lime pies made anywhere else use Tahitian/Persian limes, though.
Swincher, my post was written in about 2010? Not exactly sure. I had a Key Lime tree (shrub really) from the Florida Keys. The real, tiny yellow limes. That is the lime you use to make real ākey limeā Pie. I made sure to take a picture of the tree, etal. You can also buy Key Lime juice in the supermarkets in America. Tahitian limes are much larger. Key limes when cut in half are about the diameter of a quarter. Key is used in the name because the islands are called Keys. No Dutch origin there.
