“Frozen Key Lime Pie Recipe?” Fern Butters asked. “Girl, I’ll take that secret with me to the grave.”

Fern Butters frozen key lime pie was the stuff of legend. Every time President Harry S. Truman passed through Islamorada on Upper Matecumbe Key on his way to the “Little White House” in Key West, he would stop. More specifically, he

I stopped at the Fern Inn to get some Fern Butters frozen key lime pie.

And so did others, commoners and dignitaries alike: Papa Hemingway, Cordell Hull, Douglas Fairbanks, Julia Child. Me too.

I didn’t see any of those famous people. Except Julia Child. And I didn’t know who she was. Ignorance of youth.

But I ate Mrs. Butters Frozen Key Lime Pie.

I wasn’t a kid when I asked about the recipe. I had recipes for my grandmother’s compressed fruitcake. And my grandfather’s elderberry wine. And a pass from others that he had collected from near and far. So I thought his recipe would fit perfectly with my collection.

Not so. I was a young pastor in his little church in Matecumbe. But it could have been Gabriel himself.

And I could never get that well-kept secret.

Many had tried to replicate his recipe, but without success. I once saw Julia Child try to wheedle the Fern Butters recipe to no avail. I heard she tied to double the recipe, again, to no avail.

Of course, that may just be a legend. it’s believable. Everyone who’s ever eaten her frozen key lime pie coveted the recipe.

Well, Fern is dead now. The Fern Inn has changed its name. Fern took the recipe with her to the grave.

But, recently your daughter called me. She said that after all these years she was going through her mother’s letters and things and trying to clean out an old dresser drawer full of old letters and notes.

He found an envelope with my name on it. He wanted to know if I was the same preacher who served in the little church in Matecumbe.

This was a strange event. I had moved to Wisconsin serving the churches there for several years. When I returned to South Florida, I was a professor at a university for 33 years. I dropped out of college and served a church in North Miami Beach for 13 years. I withdrew again. He then responded to a desperate call to serve as a chaplain in a retirement community. I was in the area where Fern Butters’s daughter could contact me.

I feel the envelope, now yellow with age. Fern had been dead for about 40 years or more. I opened the envelope. The note said:

This is what you asked for. Use it wisely.

And there was the recipe!

Now I’ve wondered what to do with this recipe. You could, of course, just post it. Or I could write a book about my days as a shepherd boy among the Keys Conchs, as they called themselves. I might even sell it [How long would that last!?]

But I have decided to give it away. I’m not even going to bring the recipients into the secret. I will only give it to people who love unusual recipes and historical recipes. I have a friend from North Carolina, for example, whose family has a pumpkin soup recipe passed down from pioneer days.

And then there’s my friend from Ladies Island in Beaufort County, South Carolina. She claims that her ancestors created Frogmore Stew.

There’s an aunt in western Maryland who says she’ll give me the recipe for “Puddin’,” a meat product that is out of this world when used on pancakes. I have no idea what the ingredients are, but am looking forward to finding out.

People who are interested in these types of recipes and willing to share their own favorite recipes are invited to subscribe to the free COOKIN’ GOOD NEWSLETTER at http://www.cookin-good.com/.

Subscribers will not only receive a copy of Fern Butters’ frozen key lime pie recipe, but will also receive a monthly edition of the newsletter at no cost. Everyone is invited to submit their own unique recipes.

And invite your friends to subscribe. They will love you for telling them.

But for those who are just curious about the recipe, for those who don’t want to visit the website, for those who don’t mind missing out on all the wonderful features found in the Cookin’ Good Gazette, here’s the recipe.

With Fern’s secret ingredient [forgive me, Fern!].

Lady. The secret of butter

Key Lime Pie Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup sweetened condensed milk

6 egg yolks [save whites]

½ cup lime juice [genuine key lime]

6 egg whites [I told you to save them!]

1 tablespoon cream of tartar

1 cup of sugar

1 graham cracker pie crust [preferred-regular crust permissible]

½ pint secret ingredient

Procedure

Stuffed

Add the egg yolks to the condensed milk and beat for 8 minutes.

Add the secret ingredient and beat until well blended.

Add lime juice and mix well.

Fold into a tart shape

Place in the freezer until well set. Keep the unused portion in the freezer for up to a week. [if it lasts that long!]

Addition

While the cake sets, beat 6 egg whites with cream of tartar for 5 minutes.

Add 1 cup sugar and beat until the meringue forms peaks when you remove the whisk from the mixture.

Add to the top of the cake

Brown in the oven at 350° and chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or more for a regular pie or in the freezer for an hour for a frozen key lime pie.

Secret ingredients. ½ pint vanilla soft serve ice cream

don’t laugh. The addition of this secret ingredient has stumped many zealous cooks and chefs, including, as I said, Julia Child. Reveal it, and you’ll take the mystery out of your own ability to produce “Harry Truman-tested” frozen key lime pie.