A slice of a Tahitian, a.k.a. Persian, lime, the common supermarket variety. Photo courtesy of Aarin Free Photo.

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January 2008
Last Updated December 2011

Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / Fruits

Learn Your Limes In This Comprehensive Overview & Glossary

Page 2: Lime Varieties ~ A To J

This is Page 2 of a five-page article. Click on the black links below to visit other pages.

• Page 1: Introduction/Lime History
• Page 1: Key Limes Or Mexican Limes
• Page 1: Tahitian Or Persian Limes
• Page 2: Lime Varieties ~ A To J
• Page 3: Lime Varieties ~ K To L
• Page 4: Lime Varieties ~ M To R
• Page 5: Lime Varieties ~ S To Z
• Page 5: Lime Nutrition

Varieties Of Lime ~ A To C

There are both sweet and sour lime varieties (sweet limes are not readily available in the U.S., though they’re a key ingredient in other cuisines). Sour limes contain citric acid giving them an acidic and tart taste. Sweet limes look and smell like acid limes, but lack the citric acid. They thus have sweet flesh and can be eaten like any other sweet fruit.

• Australian Limes. There are three principal Australian limes, the Australian desert lime (Citrus glauca), which has been cultivated as the outback lime (shown at right); Australian finger lime (Citrus australasica); and Australian round lime (Citrus australis). The desert lime, a highly prized bushfood used for marmalades, beverages and glacéed fruit, was typically gathered wild, and has a strong lime-like flavor. Commercial cultivation had begun. The finger lime is long and cylindrical, and fell into vogue as a gourmet bushfood for pickles, maramalade and garnishes. It doesn’t look like anything we’d call a lime, and grows in a variety of colors including black, brown, green, orange, purple, red and yellow. There is much hybridization of limes happening in Australia, including the blood lime (see below). Photo courtesy of CSIRO.
• Bearss Lime. See Tahitian Lime.
• Black Lime. See Omani lime.
• Blood Lime. The blood lime is a hybrid citrus fruit developed in Australia, a cross between the red finger lime (Citrus australasica var. sanguinea) and the Ellendale Mandarin, a mandarin and orange hybrid (some sources site this as the Rangpur lime, Citrus x limonia), which has an orange rind and pulp. The tree, which can also be planted as an ornamental tree, produces striking, blood red-colored fruit. It is smaller than most limes, and like the blood orange, somewhat sweeter.
  
  Photo courtesy of CSIRO.
  

• Calmondin, Calamondin or Musk Lime (Citrus x Citrofortunella mitis). Also known as the Chinese, or China, orange; Panama orange; golden lime; scarlet lime; in the Philippines, kalamondin, kalamunding, kalamansi, calamansi, limonsito, or agridulce; Malayan names include limau chuit and limau kesturi (“musk lime”); in Thailand, ma-nao-wan. Wedges are served with iced tea, seafood and meats, and were commonly served in Florida before limes became widely cultivated. The calmondin, with acidic juice, has wide culinary use. People with access to calmondins use them in cranberry sauce, chutney and marmalade (Robert Lambert uses them in his five-lime marmalade, and calmondin-kumquat and calmondin-papaya blends are popular). The preserved peel is added as flavoring to other fruits stewed or preserved; the juice is used in beverages, gelatin dishes and custard pie or chiffon pie.

Continue To Page 3: Lime Varieties K To L

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