Sour Orange Pie Was Florida's Thing Before Key Lime

If you like fruit pies, you're probably familiar with key lime pie. The light and fruity baked good is famously from Florida — it's even been dubbed the official state pie. It's also plenty popular outside of the Sunshine State. But while key lime pie seems to get all the glory, a completely different citrusy confection was once in the spotlight. Still enjoyed today, sour orange pie utilizes fruits native to the area to create a tart and fruity-flavored dessert. If you're a fan of acidic foods, it may just be the treat for you.

The recipe has been modified over the years and is now prepared by employing many of the same ingredients and methods used to make key lime pie — just with a swap of the citrus fruit being used. However, prior to the invention of condensed milk (and thus key lime pie), the filling was more like a fruit curd thickened with cornstarch, and the sourness was apparently even more pronounced.

Those Seville oranges are key. Outside of this dessert, you can find them in foods like marmalade, ceviche, and even Cuban mojo sauce. Their dearth of sweetness is traditionally what makes this pie really pop.

Seville oranges were first introduced to the St. Augustine region of Florida by Spanish settlers in the 1500s. As oranges go, they are particularly sour and bitter, though their flesh is soft and juicy. This type of orange might be one you haven't heard of, but its trees thrive in Florida's climate. In fact, it and other citrus varieties grew aplenty after being introduced to the state, and today, Florida is the top producer of all kinds of oranges in the United States, according to the USDA.

It's unclear when precisely the baked good was invented, but the juiciness of those Seville oranges is perhaps what led to the creation of sour orange pie. While not ideal for drinking, the juice and zest could at least be repurposed into sweet treats. While there are bakeries and restaurants around Florida where you can go and grab a slice for yourself, it's easy enough to make the dessert yourself.

If you want to try baking sour orange pie at home, you might be able to find the Seville oranges at specialty produce shops or farmers' markets if you're in Florida. Elsewhere in the country, though, you may have to specially order the oranges from online retailers. Though some recipes do recommend using other orange varieties mixed with a little bit of lemon juice to recreate that extra brightness, you can also try using calamondin (also called calamansi), a hybrid citrus fruit that is reminiscent of kumquat.

However you achieve that sour orange flavor, making the pie is relatively straightforward if you're familiar with its key lime counterpart. That means fortifying the filling by whisking together some sweetened condensed milk, plus egg yolks, salt, lemon and orange zest, and the citrus juice, all of which then gets poured into a crumb crust-lined pan. For a garnish, the pie is typically adorned with whipped cream or meringue — adding a little extra sweetness to balance the sourness. Before serving, allow the pie to cool in the fridge.