Will look at the recipe, which if it is from the olden days of the Florida Keys— the whipped eggs are “cooked” quite literally by the extra tart Key lime juice which is blended into the pie custard. The juice cooks the eggs. The pie was a way to use up eggs which were going to go bad in the un-refrigerated days of yore.
Later a meringue of whipped sugared egg whites was layered on top and the pie browned in an over. Light browned whipped egg whites on top of the lime juice cooked whole eggs. There was never any green food coloring added. The pie came out as a light yellow green... tart and delicious in what was later a pressed graham cracker crust.
The measure of how real the pie was— was it was so tart you had to have a lot of milk to drink with it. Fantastic dessert, all Florida.
My ex was born and raised in the Keys and we had a vacation house there. He drove me up and down the Keys looking for a REAL Key Lime Pie.. At restaurant after restaurant, we’d order it and every single time he’d say, “That’s not it” no matter how delicious it was.
No frills, no whipped cream, etc. The real Key Lime Pie was seasonal, no imported limes. No fancy crusts.
Hard to believe, but Trader Joe has good Key Lime Pies in the freezer. As close as you can get, I think. A seasonal thing, they really are using Key Limes.
No one but Yankees ever but meringue on a Key Lime pie. Jumping Jehosephat! The next thing you know somebody will want to put whipped cream on one. Meringue on a Key Lime pie - defeats the whole purpose of a tart pie.