Mexican limes for sale in a market. (c) moyerphotos on Flickr*
Robin: Few liquids pack more flavor punch per drop and are more versatile than freshly-squeezed lime juice.
Non-Latinos in the U.S.A. may be most familiar with the Persian or Tahitian lime—the large-ish, thicker-skinned one that looks like a green lemon. Those plastic lime-shaped bottles full of juice are the cutest things, are they not? I love those containers, but that’s not the kind of lime we need for Latin and Caribbean cooking.
The citrus giant we are concerned with here is the key lime, also called the Mexican lime, as it is ubiquitous in that cuisine. The key lime is smaller than the Persian lime and has a much thinner skin, but it has a much more intense and somewhat more acidic flavor. Mexican/key limes are round, vary in color from medium green to a light green-yellow, and they tend to be much juicier than their Persian cousins—which is perfect for all of us who love to use them often.
Fortunately, key limes have become increasingly easy to find in mainstream supermarkets across the United States. Prices will vary, of course, depending on normal seasonal flow and how much of a market there are for these beauties in a particular area, but they should be affordable in small quantities during most of the year. One great thing about this citrus is that a small amount of juice packs a lot of flavor, and most recipes require only a few wedges of the fruit. If cost is a concern, the occasional lime-heavy dish (the ones that call for, say, half a cup or more of juice) can always be saved for the times when the fruit goes on sale.
Persian limes on the tree. / (c) Rohit Tandon on Unsplash*
Bottled Lime Juice
Okay, so it’s time for us to sit down and have The Talk.
This may be somewhat uncomfortable for you to hear, but we need to talk to you about something serious. I wouldn’t mention it to you if it were not very important. I need to warn you about bottled lime juice.
The stuff is everywhere nowadays, from mega supermarkets all the way down to the corner gas station. It’s convenient, not too pricey, and good for a plethora of uses. Let me exhort you, however, to avoid bottled lime juice when preparing Mexican (or any other Latin/Caribbean) food! Not because it’s “bad” (it’s not), but just because it isn’t good enough.
Freshly-squeezed lime juice is a wonderful elixir – aromatic, sharply flavored, nectar-of-the-gods-like. The bottled stuff is okay, but truly does not pack the punch that fresh-squeezed does. Yes, it can seem like a hassle to squeeze your own limes—especially when you need quite a bit of juice—but believe me, it is definitely worth it. Always. Yes, always.
What can I say to convince you? Let’s see, for thosewho are really into authenticity, let me tell you that I lived about 23 years in Mexico and never once saw bottled juice being used or even for sale, so you do the math. Or maybe you care about the environment. Well, bottled juice uses way more non-renewable resources to produce than do fresh limes. Prefer food that tastes awesome? Recipes made with bottled juice will be okay, but excellence is only achieved with fresh-squeezed. Cost conscious? Use of that bottled juice (even though it was on sale this week) may very well turn out to be more expensive in the end than buying fresh limes, since your dish will not have that little “something” to it that makes the family fight over the leftovers.
Regardless of what moves you, please, just at least try to use only juice from fresh limes you have squeezed yourself! Got it? Yes, I am passionate about this subject, and yes, I really mean it. Seriously.
A lime juicer, limes, and fresh-squeezed juice. / (c) Alan Levine on Flickr*
How to Buy and Juice Key/Mexican Limes
Anyway, so now that we have The Talk out of the way, here are some practical pointers.
- Choose limes that feel heavy for their weight and have intact, healthy-looking rinds.
- Try for the ones that are midway between deep green and yellow; as Mexican limes ripen, they turn yellow and lose a little of their flavor punch.
- If you plan to use them within a week, store your limes in a dry place at room temperature, since the moisture implicit in refrigeration can encourage decay. If you’re lucky, your limes will come in a mesh produce bag and you can store them in that same bag, ideally hung up on a nail somewhere.
- If you are going to keep them more than a week, go ahead and refrigerate your limes. Whatever you do, though, don’t wash them until right before you use them, as premature washing can cause premature decay and/or hardening of the rinds.
Since you are committed to freshly squeezing your juice (right???), you are eventually going to want to own a utensil known as a lime squeezer. There are different kinds of these available – plastic and metal, smaller or larger, etc. Many times the more rustic, clumsy-looking models turn out to be the best, but get whatever is easily available to you. As you start to use it, it will become one of your favorite utensils. Yes, you can squeeze limes without one, but once you get one of these you will wonder how you ever managed without it.
So how are we going to use all this delicious, aromatic, freshly-squeezed key lime juice? To start with, hHere is an extremely partial list of foods that are usually sprinkled with this heavenly liquid:
- Fresh fruit and raw vegetables (such as jicama)
- Ceviche
- Salads
- Tostadas and tacos
- Soups
- Chips (potato, corn, etc.), chicharrones, and other fried snacks
- Roasted or grilled meats and chicken
- Fish or seafood prepared almost in any manner
- Drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), including mojitos and the Peruvian classic pisco sour, and various types of limeade
A Few Good Lime-y Recipes
No-bake Creamy Lime Refrigerator Cake
My Own First Experience With Limes
Perhaps the first fundamental truth I ever learned about food in Mexico, as I experienced the culture for the first time as a high school exchange student, is that very few ingredients are used more often in authentic Mexican cuisine than lime juice. I remember the lesson vividly; it seemed to me that people there put lime juice on everything, and they called it limón. That sure sounded like “lemon” to me – but limones were green, not yellow like the lemon wedges we would occasionally get in glasses of restaurant iced tea back in Indiana. I later learned that the word can refer to both lemons and limes; however, lemons are not common in Mexico and when limón is used in that country it almost always refers to small-in-size but huge-in-impact key lime.
*Complete photo credits:
Limes in market: (c) moyerphotos on Flickr, Creative Commons 2.0 license, no modifications made
Persian limes on the tree: (c) Rohit Tandon on Unsplash
Cut limes with lime juicer: (c) Alan Levine on Flickr, Creative Commons 2.0 license, no modifications made
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