Instructions
Limes defy logic. They run contrary to all good sense.
You see, it’s so unfair and so unnatural that they are a winter fruit when a lime’s whole personality speaks of sunshine. In a lime you have the essence of freshness, the crispest of all flavours, and the ultimate panacea for a hot summer’s sweat.
Think of lime sorbets, margaritas, marmalades and tea cakes, all of which belong firmly in the realms of summer.
And yet, despite my pleadings to that great gardener in the sky, limes remain the bounty of our coldest times. Limes come into season in May and continue through until September. Hence in summer, we are using expensive imported limes from the USA and the Caribbean, or local fruit that has been stored in carbon dioxide rooms for up to six months. Neither of these two options are ever as good as freshly picked Australian limes.
It seems that limes first emerged in Persia more than 4000 years ago, possibly as a hybrid of lemon varieties. And yet the modern lime bears little relation to lemons in flavour, despite their physical similarities of citrus-ness.
Limes are, as many will know, a great source if vitamin C. In fact limes were rationed to British sailors throughout the 19th century to prevent scurvy, which led to the use of the term ‘limey’ to describe Britons generally.
Here in Australia we have two varieties of our own native limes. The finger lime has in recent times become a chef’s favourite. Its long tapered skin contains individual jewel-like pods of distinctly bitter citrus fruit. Served with oysters or scallops the finger lime is a uniquely Australian condiment.
By contrast, the desert lime is a cruel joke played upon those lost in the barren Australian outback. No larger than a walnut, the desert lime contains relatively little juice. And what juice it does contain is bitter enough to make a lemon squint! Believe me, you’d sooner perish of thirst than quench yourself with a bunch of these.
But perhaps my first observation was wrong, it could be that limes are meant to be a winter food. Could it be that they are the echo of summer that will sustain us until the sun is warm again. Maybe.
Caramelised lime tart