As the hottest months of the year arrive in Madison County, local family-owned enterprise Strawberry Café reveals their plan to take on the humidity: a dessert made specially for summer.
The strawberry key lime pie combines the best of the Florida Keys and middle Mississippi. This sweet treat has become a staple of the summer menu for Ashley Bach and the rest of the Strawberry Café team.
“We rotate our desserts,” says Bach, co-owner and general manager of the café. In the summer, they serve strawberry key lime pies, lemon meringues, bread puddings, and root beer floats. Many humid afternoons see the café weathering storms of children looking for those root beer floats.
But Strawberry Café customers can be relied upon to always have one specific request throughout Madison County’s sweltering season. “When people come in to ask for something during the summer, it’s the strawberry key lime pie,” says Bach.
What makes the strawberry key lime pie such a good summer treat? Says Bach: “It’s so light. During those really hot months, no one wants to eat anything heavy. The strawberry key lime pie gives you that sweet dessert taste without being too much or coming on too strong. Our menu definitely switches to the lighter, cooler side of things during the summer and the strawberry key lime pie suits that change really well.”
This light and cool pie recipe is a traditional one. A thick graham cracker crust, fluffy whipped cream topping, and vivid red strawberry sauce are the finishing touches loved by many Strawberry Café patrons.
The idea for the strawberry key lime pie was a simple one for the owners, who wanted to incorporate Madison’s history as a strawberry farming community with the popular summer treat. Identifying with Madison’s history has always been important to the Bachs, who bought the café in 2005. “We completely renovated,” said Bach. “The only thing we kept was the name.” Thus, the strawberry key lime pie was born.
Bach says, “By the end of the summer, when we’re starting to back off our summer menu and introduce our fall menu, people will still be calling us to ask about the strawberry key lime pie. ‘Do you have the strawberry key lime pie?’”
That will be around the time that Strawberry Café will be trying to introduce their fall line of desserts. In the shop, they sell their seasonal pies by the slice, but interested patrons can call ahead and preorder the whole pie. “And that’s what people really want!” Says Bach. Strawberry Café regulars are never ready to say good-bye to the star of the summer line-up.
To complement it, the café boasts a variety of coffees and after dinner drinks. The Irish Nutty Coffee and Mississippi Mud are two such concoctions that pair well with the favorite dessert.
Its creamy filling soothes the palate after a flavorful plate of fish or grilled chicken salad. The crumbly graham cracker crust goes down sweetly with coffee or Amaretto.
This strawberry key lime pie has married the best of tropical dessert and Madison County tradition for a summer treat that no one can have only once.
