Lime Fever: 30 Things To Do With Limes

  ‘It’s official. You are obsessed with limes. Get on with the lime and lemon grass cordial’ Limes. Zip. Zing. Zest. Great with sweet – mangoes, ripe plantains, pawpaw, perfect with spice, like cardamom; herbs like mint and tang, like yogurt. Pushed and prodded by Miss Wana Wana on Instagram, I decided to share my favourite ways to make them bed and mouth fellow. But first, a few tips on prepping, storing and using them. How to Prepare Limes

• Zest for toppings and to include in recipes
• Cut slices, cheeks and wedges to garnish and to serve with meals and drinks

    How to Store Limes Limes are best refrigerated, where they last 3 or 4 times longer than in the pantry. Unrefrigerated, I find my limes stay a week before the skin turns brown, or hard, or goes bad altogether. Refrigerated, I’ve had some last a month. And finally, 30 things + to do with limes Breakfast ideas

1. Make lime curd, even mango and lime curd
2. Squeeze over a dollop of yogurt, on a bed of sliced bananas. Or any fruit for that matter. The yogurt is an excellent ferry for the clean, refreshing flavours of lime – absorbing any bitterness and letting its essence shine through
3. Pawpaw and lime. No yogurt needed. *Doffs hat*

      Drinks

1. Put slices in your water. As Natural Nigerian testifies.
2. Give your hibiscus infusion/ Zobo life with limes
3. Make limeade. Spruce it up and call it your Pink Spring Blush – Rhubarb and Lime.
4. Liven up your Chapman cocktail with juice and wedge
5. Coconut water. It transforms coconut water. Yes, the transparent, slightly cloudy water in the belly of the brown nut. It marries well. Add a touch of sweetener if you like and a slice of cucumber for cool, refreshing tropical heaven
6. Add to sugarcane juice

      7. Make a cordial with lemons, lemongrass and lime 8. Great in some teas and infusions – both juice and zest 9. Lovely in smoothies –  green, orange…whatever tickles your fancy (attr. Ms Wana Wana)     Preserves and Pickles  

1. Sugar-preserved limes. Shortcut to candied fruit
2. To pickle onions. Red onions become beautiful, magenta-purple slices of beauty and deliciousness

   

3. Make Lime Marmalade. If you succeed. Please let me know. For, I didn’t.

Marinades and Sauces

1. A ginger, lime and soy marinade for some fish with a bit of fish sauce and sesame oil, lime (attr. Ms Wana Wana)
2. Lime with some honey, mustard and a bit of Japanese rice wine vinegar for a green bean and pea salad. (attr. Ms Wana Wana)
3. Green Thai curry (attr. Ms Wana Wana)
4. Zest, To replace keffir lime leaves. In Curries. Sambals. Dips.

Sides  

 

1. Ceviche. The acids in lime work well to ‘cure‘ seafood and render them edible
2. Papaya Salad , where the clean, refreshing flavours lifts the entire dish
3. Mango Salsa. No words needed. Guac too. Corn salsa
4. As a dressing in a ‘coleslaw’ mix of carrots, cabbage and other salads. with sweet elements.
5. With coconut. In a ‘cooked’ cassava salad

 

  Desserts    

 

1. Make a quick, rich Lime ice cream
2. With mangoes. And cardamom. With mint. For tropical flavours.
3. Wedges. To squeeze over creamy desserts. Like Blackberry Cheescake verrines. The best thing I ever made. The thing that gave the trophy to limes. Before I got to know Meyers anyway.

      4. To ‘finish’ off desserts like Bread Pudding, like yogurt pots 5. Gently folded into whipped cream, to top things like the most-delicious Coconut Tres Leches cake. Ever.  

  Other Interesting Uses        

1. Scratch and sniff and get transported to lands far, far away
2. Clean your sink/counter with ‘used’ limes
3. Great with Suya
4. Nice, dried and ground to make finishing salts
5. Combining with honey to make a cough remedy (@sh0made)
6. Great for cleaning snails

    There you have it, a few of my favourite ways to use limes. What are yours? Please share, I’d love to try new recipes with them. Stay well. XXX     About the Author: Ozoz Sokoh is Nigerian-born, Liverpool-schooled (in part) and now living and working in Nigeria. For more information and posts visit: http://www.kitchenbutterfly.com/ –

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This article was first published on 30th July 2014

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