Products
A Taste of the Keys
Key Lime Pie
The iconic Florida Key Lime Pie’s history, though the exact origin is debatable, dates back to the early 1800's. Where it is said that creative sponge fishermen, without refrigeration on their boats, were limited to nonperishable food that included key lime pie ingredients: key limes, canned milk, sugar, crackers and eggs. Without ovens on their boats the pie was furthermore not baked. The fishermen relied on the natural thickening of the proteins when mixed with the acidic lime juice. Without the concern of uncooked eggs, rather using fresh cream, Island Pie Shoppe follows these traditions in the production of our pie bite products. The Key Lime, also called Mexican Lime or West Indian Lime was likely introduced to Florida by the Spanish in the 1500's. Due to destructive hurricanes and difficult growing conditions in Florida the small yellowish-green Florida Key Lime, as we know it today, is mostly found on the trees of Florida backyard gardeners never reaching the grocery store. The majority of Key Lime is now imported from various tropical regions of the world.
Coconut Cream Pie
The delicious Coconut Cream Pie has a more mysterious history. Though the coconut cream pie’s origins are not entirely known in the United States or Europe, it too started delighting tropical fruit lovers in the 1800’s. Because of its looks, the coconut is considered by most to be quite hardy. However, fresh coconut is susceptible to spoiling on long voyages over land and sea. When many chefs and home cooks came across a coconut, they were perplexed as to what to do with it. It wasn't until the coconut was shaved and dried that it became more common in the “modern” kitchens of Europe and the United States. Likely due to the increased exposure of the once daunting fruit, the coconut cream pie was imagined and created. Two common versions of coconut pies exist: the coconut cream pie and the coconut custard pie. Island Pie Shoppe has taken the coconut cream pie and made it its own, using real coconut cream in place of dry coconut shavings and our classic graham cracker crust in lieu of the traditional shortbread crust.
Banana Cream Pie
The ever-loved banana cream pie has a similar upbringing to the coconut cream pie in that bananas were highly perishable and not commonly available until improved transportation and promotion of the fruit in the United States in the late 1800’s. Bananas became a more common fruit to eat alone or to adorn other recipes, like the famous southern U.S. staple of banana pudding. Banana pudding seems to have originated from banana cream pie, which was first made with a sliced banana baked in a pie crust and then topped with a custard filling. Today’s banana pies are still enjoyed in different formats, but we believe Island Pie Shoppe’s banana cream pie bite, coated in its crunchy chocolatey coating, leaves many desert lovers' boxes checked.
Raspberry Cream Pie
The bright pink raspberry cream pie is a relative newcomer to the Island Pie Shoppe menu, though it is not new to the culinary world as it relates to our other flavors. The cream pie became very popular in the mid-late 1800’s and seemed to evolve with any fruit that could pair well with a sweet cream and crust.
Raspberries are native to the slopes of Mount Ida in Greece and were first cultivated in the mid-1st century. Raspberries are said to have spread throughout Europe thanks to the vast Roman empire at the time. Raspberry plants were even exported to the United States from Britain as early as the 1770’s. It is said that the first raspberry cream pies may have had their origins in the English countryside, where fresh cream from the neighbors’ cows and a bounty of beautiful red raspberries were readily available. Though not a tropical fruit, raspberries have found their way to the islands at Island Pie Shoppe, and we encourage you to enjoy our North Meets South creation.