Post #306516 by The Gnomon on Tue, May 15, 2007 1:06 PM

When I was a little kid I drank a lot of tea (just regular Lipton) and always had to have lime in it. I was very particular about the limes and would not let my folks or anyone else pick them out. I had to be the one to select them. I'm still the same way, but now know a lot more about them.

TMI on limes (aka everything you might never have wanted to know):

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/tahiti_lime.html

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/mexican_lime.html

I grew up in New England, came down to Washington to go to school and ended up staying. Being that neither area is tropical (nor close to it) there never are any local limes. Mostly, I use Tahiti/Persian/Bearss limes. Occasionally, Key/Mexican/West Indian limes will turn up in the store and I'll treat myself to the delicacy. Actually, both varieties tend to be imported from Mexico—especially, when the US crops get damaged or have a bad year.

Anyway, when I go to the store, usually the lime bin is small enough that I will inspect every lime they have and take all the best ones. I will often seek out the produce manager, ask him if he has more limes in the back, and if I can go through them all. Hopefully, I will have found, at least one good lime in his bin so I can show him what I'm looking for. I tell him that if he gives me a good price for buying a lot of them, I'll take all he has of the kind I'm showing him. Just because the sign says 3/$1 doesn't mean you can't get a better deal.

For every decent lime there are usually ten or more that seem like little green lemons. The good limes (smooth shiny skin, plump, and oval) are generally not as large as the green lemon specimins. Unless there is no other way, I won't buy limes in a netted bag. I've found that the ratio of good limes to "green lemons" is even worse in the netted bags. Often they have no decent limes inside at all.

Once you have your limes at home, as precious as they can be when they're selling at 2 or 3 or 4 for a dollar, you don't want them to go bad or dry up on you. Here are a few tips on the care and maintenance of limes:

If the skin becomes discolored or pitted it is probably being over-chilled. Don't store limes below 45°F.

If the limes seem to be drying up, check the humidity. They should be stored in a place with high humidity (85%-95%).

If they seem to be deteriorating rather rapidly, check to make sure you're not keeping them near apples, avocados, bananas, melons, peaches, pears, or tomatoes. All of those fruits are high producers of ethylene, which adversely affects limes.

TMI for ethylene: http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Ethylene-Gas.htm

Hope my 2¢ helps someone.

[ Edited by: The Gnomon 2007-05-15 13:08 ]