Loads of limes, lots of limes, luscious limes…there’s something very pleasing in the alliteration. It reminds me of the La La La song from Sesame Street that my sons loved so much when they were little.
But I digress, as usual.
Australian grown limes are crazy cheap in Sydney at the moment. Hard as it is for folks in other parts of the world to believe, we can pay up to $2 per lime when they’re out of season. Even just a few weeks ago, they were $1.50 each.
Then suddenly, they were 40c a lime at Harris Farm, so I bought a big mesh bag full. The following week, they were 25c each. I went back. Then yesterday they were 10 for $2. I went back again!
I dragged the juicer attachment for the food processor out and went to work. Not the smartest move when you’ve got a deep paper cut…
The juice was frozen in icecube trays, then popped out and stored in a box in the freezer. The rinds were too bulky for the Bokashi Bin to manage, so we passed them through the grater attachment on the food processor and Pete spread them out under our tiny, barely fruiting miniature lime tree…
When I asked why he did this, he explained that citrus needs acidic soil and around here we have trouble keeping it that way, so we either add citrus or sulphur. As the latter is expensive, we put all the lemon tree prunings and excess fruit through the chipper to create mulch and layer it over the soil under our lemon and lime trees.
With this batch, we cut the rinds up finely, which means they’ll dry and break down quickly, hopefully with minimal fruit fly problems.
With the second bag I bought, I tried a couple of different freezer options. Lovely Moo suggested freezing them in wedges to use as a garnish in cocktails, which worked a treat. I laid them out on trays and lids to freeze…
…then stored them in a reusable plastic box in the freezer…
My mad Viking friend Anita freezes her limes whole and then just hacks segments off to stick down the neck of her Coronas. I’m not game to try that, but I did freeze some of the fruit whole – apparently when you defrost them, they’re extra juicy because the cell walls burst. They should be good for curries!
Today, I whipped up a batch of Linda Woodrow’s brilliant lime cordial. The recipe is here, and my take on it uses eight limes, a cup of water and 1¾ cups of raw sugar. I stash it in the fridge and serve it with soda water…
Finally, everyone knows that the main reason limes were created was for margaritas! And can I just say as an aside – kudos to the genius who figured out how to selectively grow seedless limes with exactly one nip of juice in each…
Here is my perfect margarita recipe, given to me by the lovely bartender at our favourite Mexican pub…
- 30ml white tequila (I like the Olmeca Altos Plata)
- 15ml Cointreau
- 30ml fresh lime juice
- 10ml sugar syrup
Combine with ice and shake enthusiastically. Serve in a flaky salt rimmed glass (I use Tasmanian sea salt). Drink. Repeat.
And you knew I couldn’t finish this post without sharing the La La La song, right? Enjoy! ♥
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
You can buy silicone trays for big ice blocks in Target, and I make frozen LLB blocks: lemon juice, lime juice, a tiny bit of sugar and a dash of bitters. I bung those into a tall glass of chilled fizzy water in really hot weather. Mouth partay!
I love you, that is genius!
:-)
I’m working my way through last winter’s lime glut… everyone was giving them away. But I want them when I feel like drinking a Corona in summer. I zest, juice, segment and freeze. Never thought of freezing wedges. Mmmmm Margarita 😍
I envy you having access to so many cheap limes. Great ideas on how to use them. I just love slices of lime in soda water or tonic water, on alcohol free days.
Am going to use some of these tips when we have a lemon glut in Spain. And now I fancy a Margarita, even though it’s only 9am here 😂
Hahaha I wake up fancying a margarita! :D xx
Lucky you! I used to freeze lemon wedges but they didn’t look very appetising when they went into a gin, especially by the time I’d prised them apart. Mind you, that’s probably my freezing method.
Hahaha you could use the Viking technique and just hack chunks out of frozen whole ones? 😜
Noooo far too dangerous. Mind you, I do have a meat cleaver …
I like a slice of lime in my gin + soda😊
I freeze limes whole in a net bag. They thaw enough to cut in no time, ready to use as wedges or whatever. They are very juicy. The only negative is that a few have developed a small split, but are still totally usable. I also do juice blocks, but I always remove the zest before juicing and store that in the freezer too.
We have a lime tree and are almost overwhelmed during fruit season. We freeze the juice in ice cube trays and also whole fruit. They are very juicy when defrosted but you don’t get a lot of zest from the skin. I must tell Mr ET your idea of putting the peels under the trees to provide acidity.
I need to look around as limes in the supermarkets are still ridiculously expensive – my potted lime tree is much better this year than last year – I have been feeding it worm juice which I am told helps – but love the mulched lime rinds tip – will try that.
I usually zest the limes and freeze it too for baking, it’s better than dehydrated. Great idea to freeze the wedges too, can’t wait to try that.
I freeze any surplus limes. When I need some lime zest I take one lime from the freezer, use the microplane to remove the zest while still frozen and then the lime (still frozen) goes back into the freezer until I need it’s juice!
I use the grated rind of limes and lemons for baking, first I freeze them and when ever a baking or cooking recipe requires lemon rind I take a scoop out of the freezer and mesh in into the cake dough.
You obtained a true treasure! Limes can be so expensive, and I love them. The next time I have a lime bonanza, and i hope I do, I will remember these helpful suggestions. :-)
There’s a short time when I can buy lines relatively cheaply so I’m ready for it this year Celia!
I am going to keep these tips for when I have a glut of limes. We put pine needles under our lime and lemon trees (in containers) but I have never thought to put the leftover peels on them, great idea.
Well, the frozen wedges must work as I noticed a bag of them in the freezer compartment at the supermarket. Good idea though. Not sure I have the concept of binning lemon or lime peels as its usually the zest I need! I found that frozen lemons & limes are actually easier to zest than fresh ones, particularly if ‘fresh’ is relative and the fruit soft. And the thawed fruit then gives up its juice very readily. (Serendipity, packing up for a holiday and threw some into the freezer rather than waste.)
Hi Celia! Long time ago (when I had my own blog) I posted a method for preserving lime juice. I thought I would share it with you. One thing I have changed through the years, though, is that I don’t “twist and grind the ridges of the reamer against the inside walls of the lime to force out all of the juice” as the juice tends to be a bit bitter. In other words, don’t squeeze the limes all the way! Let me know if you try it! :)
https://myeclecticfavorites.blogspot.com/2011/07/enjoy-fresh-squeezed-lime-juice.html
Oh that’s BRILLIANT! Thank you for sharing the method!