Key Lime Smackdown: The Final Showdown!

The panel has spoken!  The decision has been made!  It's the final verdict!  A nail-biter for sure!

So okay.  Who said what?

Last night a distinguished panel of taste testers descended on the Three Cats Ranch for the Final Showdown of the Key Lime Smackdown event.  The evening was tense.  The panelists were on edge.

The tension in the room was so thick you could have cut it with a knife.  Clearly!

Or maybe it was the excitement of that new car Erik and Mae drove up in.

It was so bright and shiny, Erik had to close his eyes just to stand next to it.

But I digress.

Which is which?  Can you tell by looking at them?

The tasters took their tasting duties extremely seriously.  And who wouldn't on such a solemn occasion?

Whoa!  Somebody's mother must have made a trip to Ireland recently.

Erik considered his responses carefully and filled out his evaluation sheet.  The evaluation sheets were designed to be on a "goodness continuum" and the taster was to note whether s/he preferred the slice on the left to the slice on the right.  It was all very scientific and statistically accurate. 

Erik preferred the appearance of the slice on the right, but clearly preferred the taste of the slice on the left.

The head of the household concurred.

Mae's preferences were clear.  The slice on the left was her fave, although interestingly, she interpreted its flavor as more sweet, while the other testers thought it was more tart.  

So which slice is which?  In all cases, the Key limes won over the regular limes.

KEY LIMES WIN!!

The decision of the distinguished panel is in!  Key limes win the Key Lime Smackdown.  Key limes . . . please take your place on the podium for the awarding of the prestigious Lime Cup for excellence in limeyness.

(Insert audio here of Queen singing "We Are the Champions")

And with that, the distinguished panel rode off into the sunset, because clearly, they were way more interested in joy-riding around in that new car.  And who could blame them?

Seriously, now, in the final analysis, we all agreed that the Key limes were preferable in taste and texture.  HowEVER, we did not believe that the difference in the two was enough to warrant the extra expense and squeezing elbow grease of the Key limes.  For future tarts, we'll stick with regular limes.