One of the most creative people we know is C. c. Claudia. Claudia grows unusual plants and different kinds of fruit and makes fruit and flower arrangements that are spectacular (see this beautiful box of yuzu she gave us). She recently gave me some finger limes, something I've never heard of.
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| Finger limes in a small green bag - perfect for St. Patrick's Day. |
I found that the finger lime is listed as one of the 1001 Foods You Must Taste Before You Die, a book edited by Frances Case, page 108. It is called "lime caviar" because it has little caviar-like vesicals that look like fish eggs, but are little balls of citrus fruit that taste of lime juice, complete with the caviar-like "burst" when you crush them in your mouth. Their color can range from black, to purple, to green, to yellow, to red.
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| The whole finger lime (mid-left), lime caviar (bottom-right) and a finger lime cut lengthwise (upper-right). |
They originated in the coastal regions of Queensland and New South Wales, Australia and grow on a thorny shrub or small tree. I've seen video of cutting them in half and watching the lime caviar ooze out. These were not quite as ripe, but the lime caviar came out when the fruit was squeezed.
Reminds me of back when they had the Orange Blossom Festival in Riverside. My favorite was a lemon called the "Hand of Buddha"
ReplyDeleteHmmm. No sharing??
ReplyDeleteLooks really interesting! Do you use them in any other way than cutting open and eating? Like juicing, or using the "fish eggs" to add to drinks or salads or...?
ReplyDeleteI've seen pictures of them being added to raw oysters. They would be great in drinks or salads. I didn't have enough available to experiment.
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