Limes - "The Surprise Spice"

Prepare to be surprised - there's a lot more to Limes than cheap lolly and jellies flavouring. This is the spice that is not a spice, the fruit you won't eat and the flavour that gives that magic lift to almost everything and puts the basic good food into the gourmet class.

Tahitian Limes are the most common variety in supermarkets

We hear that this restaurant is a Gourmet restaurant or that Chef is Gourmet Chef, we can debate the semantics of it but in a nutshell, when it comes to food, it simply means – way better than average. This is the type of food you will remember, get home and try and reproduce yourself. To be honest, when we really think about it, that magic that turns a meal from good to gourmet is really a bit of creativity, experience, effort and a few extra ingredients . . . and there is the catch.

"But I can't afford all those extra ingredients on our budget."

Many of them you can...

I often cook Asian stir fries and there are two ingredients that I use that make them really stand out: Limes and fresh Coriander leaves. What an odd mix you say?

Exactly and that what makes it Gourmet – a different perception giving rise to an awesome shift in flavour.

Both of these are seasonal and the prices fluctuate dramatically. To make it worse, they are ingredients that few people use, so supermarkets will often not stock them. When they are available, shops add extra onto their usual mark up, to cover wastage for the ones they may not sell. When they are available, limes are $1.00 each and out of season are up to $5.00 each. At $1.00 each, I can add that to the budget because one lime will do four serves at least but at $5.00 each – forget it! In a moment of desperation, I tried various options including using lime essence (I did said I was desparate!) but nothing could give the same result as fresh limes.

The solution is two fold:

• I need to buy at the low price times, thereby spending less

• I need some way of preserving them for later use at high price times.

• Because it is expensive, I need to have minimal wastage.

Using Limes in cooking.

As westerners we tend to think of lime as a flavour for confectionery – lime chews, lime soft drink (or soda for you guys who don't speak proper English ;-) jelly and ice cream. You probably think that any lime flavouring in your main meal would be grossly unpleasant. Don't be so quick to judge.

Lime, in Asian cooking, is used in conjunction with other flavours to produce a “flavour layering” effect. This “flavour layering” is typical of true Thai cuisine, where you taste one flavour as it enters your mouth, a second as you chew it and a third flavour after you swallow the food. Lime is great for this. In Asia, it is a savoury ingredient, a spice-like additive to main course dishes, especially in South East Asian cooking. Try telling them it is a confectionary flavouring!

There are two distinctly different flavours we get from the lime. The first is the extremely sour juice that all Westerners associate with Limes and the second is the unique aroma (that is also in the juice in minute amounts ) that is concentrated as an aromatic oil, just under the skin and in the leaves. It is this flavour we use in stir fry cooking, in conjunction with other herbs and spices.

If using the leaves, they must be fresh. Add them whole to the food, once the liquor has begun to boil. Take them out at the last minute (the same way you would use Bay Leaves).

If using the fruit, wash and dry (to remove any sprays and dust) and grate the rind with a cheese grater. Use the medium rough side. The result will be flakes about half the size of a grain of rice, (called frizz). Add these to the food as soon as the juices have begun to simmer. You are left with a bald lime – squeeze the juice into a glass and freeze it for amazing summer cordials or in an apple pie, to die for, that no-one will be able to copy.

Real Lime Jelly

Got visitors you want to impress but no money?

Here's a real low cost winner?
Here's a desert that will be a highlight – real Lime Jelly (Jello) – sounds average but try it before you judge. You can even get the kids to make this. It's best done in a glass bowl for visual impact and buy buying the jelly packets on special (down from 99c each to 3 for a $1.00) it worked out at only 70c per serve!

Get enough cheap lime jelly for your guests and one fresh lime for every four people (emphasis is on cheap).

Halve the limes and cut a thin slice off the face of each half and put the slices to one side.

Grate the zest (with a fine grater, like you'd use for parmesan cheese - grate off the green rind only) off the rest, then squeeze out the juice.

Make up half your jelly and add half the frizz and juice. (I always use a little less water than they say, when I make it). Place in the fridge and allow to set.

Lay the lime slices on the set jelly.

Make up the other half of your jelly with the rest of the frizz and juice. Pour over the top and leave to set. Serve chilled.

The jelly tastes like nothing out of the shops and the lime slices suspended in the jelly make a good visual display too. The beauty of this desert is that they will expect a typical jelly, dressed up but once they taste it they won't believe it came from the shops.

Preserving Limes

Limes keep well but lose their aroma with time, so when buying get them from a fruit and vege shop where all the produce looks fresh.

Choose only deep green limes from a shop with good fresh produce.

Limes keep longer in the fruit bowl than the fridge but they will turn yellow and loose a little of their flavour with time. How you choose to preserve them will depend on how you tend to use them. In Western culkture we tend to value their sourness so we use the juice. In Asian cooking they prefer the rich aroma, so they use the leaves and the zest (finely grated outer layer of skin that is rich in essential oils).

I use the rind for zest and the juice for summer drinks (lemon lime and bitters. a ballistic tequila and a great lime cordial). Anything with aromatic oils, will rapidly become tasteless if dried so we freeze the frizz. Simply grate all the rind off your limes, onto a sheet of paper that has been folded in half and flattened out again (so it has a crease in down the middle). Fold the paper to and the frizz will form a line in the groove which can easily be poured unto a small spice jar. Store it in the freezer until you need it. This keeps for up to a year, frozen, if sealed. Kafir limes are usually prized for the richly aromatic leaves. Freezing these will retain their aroma if you store them in your freezer in a zip-lick plastic bag.

The juice is simply squeezed and chilled or frozen. Remember if you freeze any liquids, they expand when frozen and will break a glass container. Use only plastic containers for freezing liquids. Someone told me to use an ice cube tray - didn't work for me. They only partly froze and all stuck together. My freezer looked like the aftermath of a marjhong tournament! I went to my pharmacist and for $5.00 got 10 plastic eye dropper bottles (with dropper). When I want lime juice, I thaw out the bottle and one eyedropper is 5mls or 1 teaspoon.

You can also thinly slice whole limes and freeze them as whole slices by laying them on a sheet of plastic over an oven tray, in the freezer. Once frozen, remove the plastic and pack the limes into a plastic bag, layering the plastic between them. I cheat – (I keep the thin plastic from sheet pastry I buy and reuse it for this.). The frozen slices are great for garnish on gourmet salads, fish, and escalloped potatoes (added just prior to serving, to offset the red of slices of tomato). See the Real Lime Jelly recipe for a stunning dessert.

Growing Limes

Limes are considered a tropical fruit but will grow well in a range of climates. Here in Melbourne, they will grow in back yards if sheltered from frost. If you grow against a north facing wall and shelter from cold winds. The radiating heat and reflection generally will be sufficient to eliminate frost damage. Limes are the most wonderfully fragrant fruit. They’re used in everything from Deserts, confectionery,Thai main courses to great guacamole. They make an attractive specimen tree with their verdant green lovely shiny leaves and wonderful heavenly scented spring flowers. What more could you want in a fruit tree?

Anywhere you can grow a lemon tree, you can grow a lime tree. They need direct sunlight and a well drained soil that is high in nitrogen. Home compost is high in nitrogen and is ideal for limes. The tree needs little pruning but if too dense in the centre they can become prone to mould from the lack of air circulation.

There are three main varieties of Lime. The Kaffir lime is the most commonly used lime for Asian cooking. The fruit is small, warty, knobbly looking and has very little juice. There are a few varieties, but 'Nathaniel' has the least thorns and probably has the best flavour.

The overall favourite would be the Tahitian Lime, with its good-sized fruit, no seeds, more juice and the tree is virtually thornless. This is the one we see in supermarkets in Australia. In the USA they have two varieties in supermarkets – the Key Lime (or Mexican Lime) as well as the Tahitian (or Persian Lime). The Tahitian Lime bears smooth skinned fruit from mid autumn through to mid winter.

West Indian limes have little thorns all the way down to the ends of the branches. The fruit is smaller but really packs a punch and has lots of juice. This variety is cold sensitive, so offer it some protection if you get frosts.

The Kaffir lime is grown for its leaves that are used in Thai cooking. The fruit is warty and knobbly looking with hardly any juice. There are a few varieties, but 'Nathaniel' doesn’t have many thorns and it possibly has the best flavour.

Most citrus originate in China but the Finger lime is an Australian native. The fruit come in green, yellow, red or black forms. The juice is encapsulated inside the fruit, in it's segments. Cutting open the fruit you get the impression it is dry, with very little juice, just pop one of those juice capsules and see!

These pack a wallop of flavour. You'll be lucky to see these in your fruit shop though. They are snapped up by overseas gourmet buyers as soon as they are picked.

A selection of Australian Finger Limes.

The Australian Finger Lime tree has narrow small leaves and loads of thorns. It grows to about 12 metres and is a prolific cropping tree. Fruit are easily harvested by shaking the branches. Ripe limes will fall off and do not bruise with the drop - even from 12 metres! Like most Australian natives it is very drought hardy. New varieties are coming onto the market with less thorns.

Australian Finger Limes ripening on the tree

Kaffir and Tahitian Limes as a specimen tree make an attractive show, with their verdant green lovely shiny leaves and wonderful heavenly scented spring flowers. In winter they will drop a few leaves, only enough to let the sun filter through. There's no comparison to a lime grove - it's like something from a fairy tale to behold.

This farm in the UK had a driveway lined in old lime trees photographed in mid winter, when everything else is grey, it was a memorable sight.

What more could you want in a fruit tree?

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