FILE – Ripe strawberries wait to be picked on the “U-Choose” area at Knaus Berry Farm in Homestead, Fla., on Jan. 11, 2012. The Florida Home voted 109-4 on Friday, March 4, 2022, to ship the governor a invoice that will make strawberry shortcake the official state dessert. Key Lime Pie is already Florida’s state pie. The designation of the state dessert is an effort to advertise the state’s $1 billion strawberry business.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida lawmakers are hoping Gov. Ron DeSantis is a fan of strawberry shortcake.
The Home voted 109-4 on Friday to ship the governor a invoice that will make the tasty deal with the official state dessert.
Key Lime Pie is already Florida’s state pie. The designation of the state dessert is an effort to advertise the state’s $1 billion strawberry business. Whereas quite a lot of puns and jokes had been made whereas the invoice was going by way of the legislative course of, lawmakers turned (principally) severe as they debated Friday.
Even Republican Rep. Jim Mooney, who represents the Florida Keys and is a defender of the important thing lime pie, backed the invoice.
“That is truly a severe invoice,” Mooney stated. “Farming’s essential to our state. As a former grocer I can inform you strawberries are one in every of my favourite fruits. They’re scrumptious they usually’re nice on key lime pies.”
He added, “This invoice just isn’t going to vary anyone’s opinion of how scrumptious key lime pies are.”
The invoice was sponsored by Republican Rep. Lawrence McClure of Plant Metropolis, which is the guts of the state’s farming business. The area has 10,000 acres (4,047 hectares) of strawberry fields that produce 75% of the nation’s winter strawberry crop.
