The Hirshon North Florida Sour Orange Pie — Sour Orange Pie Image Used Under Creative Commons License From gardenandgun.com

Citizens, the new year has rung in and what better way to celebrate than with a slice of that most luscious of citrus-rich pie from Florida?

No, I’m not talking about key lime pie, though I dearly love it – this is its far less well known cousin from the Northern part of the state, sour orange pie!

Sour orange juice makes for a refreshing and bright dessert when it’s incorporated into a custard pie. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to find these oranges outside of Florida and a few other tropical locations.

For a sour orange pie that would be accessible to cooks in any part of the country, a comparable substitute for the tart juice can be made by combining lemon, lime and orange juice concentrate.

An animal cracker crust provides a sweet, crunchy contrast to the creamy, tangy citrus filling.

As noted on a Florida wiki:

Florida cuisine includes a variety of seafood dishes from the state’s extensive coastline, lakes, and islands. Florida’s food and dishes developed from various ethnicities including indigenous food crops and preparations, cracker cuisine of the settlers, Island cuisine, and various Latin American influences brought to the state and melded by various immigrants.

Influences include Spanish, Italian, Latin America, Southern United States, Africa, and indigenous tribal cuisine. Dishes like the Cuban sandwich, Devil crab, and Crab chilau (enchilada), represent fusion cuisine innovations. Floribbean cuisine is influenced by neighboring islands and immigrants from then is a subset of Florida cuisine.

Florida is known for its citrus crops, introduced to the area, iincluding oranges, grapefruit and kumquats. Sour orange is a more traditional variety used to make Sour orange pie and preserves. Key lime pie is even more popular and famous.

Citizens, my version of this classic recipe uses a bit of triple sec in the whipped cream for an extra bonus of orange flavor and my preferred juice ratios to replicate sour orange juice.

If sour oranges are actually available to you, use ¾ cup of strained sour orange juice in place of the lemon, lime, and orange juice concentrate. Minute Maid Original Frozen is an excellent orange juice concentrate.

Also, depending on the brand, 5 ounces is between 80 and 90 animal crackers. I guarantee this will become one of your favorite new taste sensations, my Citizens!

Battle on – The Generalissimo