Who doesn’t generally love citrus in its distilled-sunlit glory, but who really doesn’t love a lime? They have the same sour snap as a lemon, but with just a bit more refinement, and while most of us wouldn’t chow down on one at snacktime, we definitely notice its contribution to a variety of foods–margaritas and mojitos, ceviche, black bean soup, swordfish. Like a sparkling supporting actor, lime has that magic effect of giving a dish that extra oompf while bringing out the flavors of the other ingredients at the same time. It’s like the produce version of Christopher Walken.
For one of the first parties I ever hosted, I trotted out my mother’s recipe for lime shrimp specifically because I needed a confidence-boosting sure thing. It amused me that my East Coast counterparts were taken aback by having to peel their own shrimp–in Hawaii (where the recipe is from), getting your hands dirty is all part of the fun. Nevermind, though, because once they tasted it, they were hooked. In fact, one of my friends later told me that while she was pregnant she didn’t have any cravings…except for lime shrimp. She still brightens at the mention of it today.
However, limes are rarely used whole in recipes and they can be a bit difficult to juice (although it helps to massage the lime by pressing firmly on it as you roll it around on the counter before juicing). Cookery stores sell all sorts of fancy gadgetry to aid in the task; however, let me encourage you to get messy and juice with your own good old-fashioned elbow grease. Your hands will smell divine.
Filed under: Clean Food Daily, citrus, fruit, limes
