Key limes also known as Mexican or West Indian limes get their name from orginally being grown in the Florida Keys.

Key limes are slightly yellow in color, contain more seeds, thinner skin and are more spherical in shape than regular limes. They also tend to be more more tart, aromatic and sweeter in flavour than regular limes.

Although there is a slight flavour difference between key lime and Persian lime, it may not be noticeable in most desserts like key lime pie. So YES you can definitely substitute regular limes for key limes in most recipes (including this one!)

Fresh lime juice is definitely recommended, however if you need to use bottled lime juice as a last resort it will work fine!

If substituting lime juice for lemon juice in this key lime pie recipe you may need to adjust the maple syrup to compensate for the lack of sweetness in the lemon compared to lime or key lime but it will still work fine.

In most circumstances tapioca starch and tapioca flour are the same thing and therefore interchangeable in most recipes. Tapioca flour (also known as tapioca starch) is a starchy white powder that comes from the root of the cassava plant being ground into a fine flour.

The general ratio is substituting 2 tablespoons of tapioca flour/starch for every 1 tablespoon of cornstarch, which is the case in this recipe. (However if using tapioca flour you may need to freeze the key lime pies for them to fully set and they may turn out more gummy/stretchy than if you were to using cornstarch.)

In general, tapioca or cornstarch substitutes include arrowroot starch, rice flour, xanthan gum, guar gum, ground flax seeds or psyllium husks/psyllium husk powder. In this recipe you can replace the 2tbs cornstarch for 1tsp psyllium husks and mix them in at the very end, after heating the coconut milk before pouring the filling mixture onto the bases , but the other alternative ingredients have not yet been tested.

Yes, you can find condensed milk made from many different dairy free milks such as coconut or soy. It is also easy to make your own condensed coconut milk which is what we use as the key lime pie filling in the recipe below.

Key lime pie tastes best when served cold or even frozen, straight from the freezer for an extra delicious frozen cheesecake style dessert!

As mentioned above, these key lime pie/s are suitable for freezing and can be enjoyed frozen or left out to defrost for a couple of minutes before consuming.