Kitchen Dictionary: lime

A small, lemon-shaped citrus fruit with a thin green skin and juicy, pale green pulp. The two main varieties are the Persian lime and the Key lime. Key limes are smaller, yellower in color, seedy, sourer, and grow on thorny trees. Persian limes are seedless and are a hybrid developed in the early 20th century that are more resistant to disease and pests, and have a thicker rind.

Zest is the colored portion of the rind of the orange, lemon, or other citrus fruits. It is NOT the underlying white, pith portion of the peel. Usually removed from the fruit by use of a grater or specially designed zester. To zest, is to remove this part of the fruit.

plural: limes

Ingredient

Season: May - August

How to select: Choose brightly colored, smooth skinned limes. Brown areas on the skin do not affect flavor, but avoid limes with hard or shriveled skin.

How to store: Refrigerate whole limes in a plastic bag up to 10 days. Cut limes can be stored up to 5 days.

Matches well with: bananas, coconut, lemon, raspberries, rum

Substitutions: 1 whole lime = approximately 3 tsp. lime juice