Love for Limes Doubled in a Decade - Food News - Cooking

Double the Lime Love

No Comments | Written on December 5, 2011 at 1:00 pm, by Lesley Kennedy

Key Lime Pie Isn’t it about time limes found their way to the culinary lime-light?

Absolutely, says one of the country’s great fruit experts. David Karp (also known as the Fruit Detective) reports in the Los Angeles Times that our taste for the citrus fruit is going way beyond cocktail garnishes, noting that in the last decade per capita “consumption of limes more than doubled, from 1.55 to 3.61 pounds, according to Department of Agriculture statistics.”

And, now—late fall—is the time to get your limes at their freshest, the newspaper adds, with California varieties at the top of the American crop.

Ready for a little lime learning? The Times reports most limes you’ll find at grocery stores and farmers markets are of the Bearss variety and are “a natural hybrid of true lime and citron.” And, for those who wish to impress their friends at their next holiday soirée, be sure to snag a few Rangspur limes, the newspaper advises—the exotic variety “looks just like a mandarin, medium in size, flattish and seedy, with orange skin and flesh. If you taste the very tart pulp, however, you’ll know immediately why it is sometimes called ‘mandarin lime.’ ”

Marmalades, marinades, infused vodka martinis? Lemons are so last season. Bring on the limes. Now, sing it with us: “She put the lime in the coconut, she drank ‘em both up…”