Is there an alternative to lime juice?

Yes, I know that the answer is 'no', but what if limes are unavailable most of the year and even during the season few stores carry them?

kick_the_reverb has advised us to mix half part preserved lime juice with half part fresh lemon juice and it's ok.
However, today we found at the store Rose's Lime Juice Cordial, which has, according to the label, 35% lime juice from concentrate. Can this be used as an alternative for fresh juice? If it does, should we mix it with lemon juice or use as is?

Thanks :)

Gal and Keren

I live on the coast in Ca., so limes are usually available but still expensive. Right now I can buy them for $0.33 a piece at the regular grocery, or I can buy a bag of 25 to 30 for about $4 at Costco.

What I like to do is buy a few bags at Costco, juice them all and freeze them in empty water bottles. This way I have enough to last until next year when they are "in season" again.

I haven't noticed much of a decrease in quality after defrosting, but the worst part is not having a wedge of lime in your drink. That, I can live with.

-T.J.

NuKKe - they don't have bottled lime juice in Israel? I know the stuff is no where near as good as fresh lime juice but some is better than none at all! I'd even be willing to send you a couple bottles if you're having Mai Tai withdraw! :)

Or maybe you could mail order the stuff directly from the company...

http://www.realemon.net/

It wouldn't hurt to ask...

JohnTiki

Aloha from the enchanted Pi Yi Grotto in exotic Bel Air Maryland!

[ Edited by: johntiki on 2005-04-28 16:06 ]

If the recipie call for sugar and lime juice as many do. I would use a little bit of Minutemaid Limeaid concentrate. It is in the freezer section near the orange juice concentrate.

I once had a margarita mixed with this stuff and I was pleasantly suprized. I tastes just like fresh squeezed lime juice.

[ Edited by: captnkirk on 2005-04-28 18:43 ]

The alternative, and the actually the better substitute for lime juice (from the bottle) is to squeeze a real lime. I prefer it that way. Rose's lime juice sucks.

Don't quote me, I am not a mixologist in the realm of these guys, but I'm pretty sure I saw a large white can of "Lime Juice from Concentrate" behind the bar at Tiki Ti - and when Mike, Jr. got busy and his mix-jug was empty, he poured from the big can directly into the blender for my Mai Tai a few months back. It was my first Mai Tai o' the night, so - I don't think I imagined it. Probably similar to the Minute Maid stuff, maybe with less sugar.

The suggestion about freezing a whole bunch of it(maybe in an ice cube tray) when it's the season sounds like the best plan.
To clear one thing up, my bro and sis-in-law (nuKKe) know that fresh squeezed lime is best. But for some odd reason, back in "the old country" you can get limes for about 6 weeks of the year and that's it. Lemons you can get year round. From my experiments with the lime juice in a bottle that's available there, it doesn't taste like fresh lime juice at all, this is why I suggested they add some fresh citrus zing with the lemon juice.

Happy mixing,
Ran

There is a brand of bottled "key" lime juice called Nellie and Joes (they also make a bottled lemon juice). Web site below:

http://www.keylimejuice.com/index.htm

It is much better than the RealLemon type reconstituted stuff. In the metro DC Baltimore area I buy it at Giand Food and Trader Joe's.

Another alternative to fresh I use is home frozen. I buy a whole bag of limes or lemons when they are at their peak and cheapest. I squeeze the juice from them into a mixing bowl and filter out all the seeds, solids etc. Then, I measure out teaspoons into the compartments of ice cube trays. (Keep the remainder in the fridge to chill between freezer batches) I have several trays that make ice cubes the shape and size of a gumdrop that are almost exactly a teaspoon. Of course, any plastic, compartmentalized ice cube tray would work. When they are fully frozen, I unmold them into a ziploc freezer bag. Now, when I want to make a drink requiring juice, I can just pop loose a few from the bag and thaw them for a few seconds in the microwave. It beats bottled or fresh squeezed from too old limes any day.

thank you all for the replies. Unfortunately, I have never seen neither frozen concentrate nor bottled lime juice here, save for the Rose's stuff. However, the self-squeezing/freezing is a great suggestion; according the the Board of Citrus Farmers, the lime season starts in July, which is not THAT far ahead. Meanwhile we'll continue to use the fresh lemon/preserved lime mix and try to return the Rose bottle to the store and replace it with another ingredient.

Johntiki - thanks for the generous offer, but you'd want to save your postage money for lots and lots of other things ;)

~Keren

I use Nellies Key Lime exclusively. If you can get that, you'd do well. Maybe someone can get some to you in another shipment sometime.

Ya know what Swanky,that's a good suggestion, maybe their California relative should look for the bottled lime juice and bring some when he visits them.

Ran

T.C. is better than any encyclopedia ever written!! Gosh, the stuff I learn here!! THANKS for the Nellie's tip!!

question on using Nellie's key lime juice:
If the recipe calls for an ounce of lime juice, do you use and oz. or cut back a little (to 1/2 or 3/4)
I'm asking because I though key limes where different in character (more tart) than regular limes.

They are. I use Nellies as my "back-up" supply so that I can always mix a drink on demand, but it is no sustitute for fresh lime juice in my opinion when the alternative is available.

That said, like Swanky I recommend it. It's handy. But I find Key limes to be a little bitter, more tart, and ever so slightly piney tasting. Buy some and some regular limes and side by side you'll see (or taste rather) just what I mean.

The biggest downside to all of these techniques? No oils from the shell. That is a major loss in the areas of both aroma and flavor, and aroma is like 20% of a good drink if you ask me.

Ahu

Why don't you have a grow at growing your own? The climate shoul be Ok.

On 2005-04-29 23:15, Kon-Hemsby wrote:
Why don't you have a grow at growing your own? The climate shoul be Ok.

I would, had I not lived in a flat. My parents grow a lemon tree and supply us with juicy, big ones during the winter, but they don't have a room for an extra tree in the backyard.
Two months and one day til the beginning of the lime season - yay!
Three months til we get bottles from the California relatives - a bigger yay!!!

-and again, thanks for the information and help; it is much appreciated.

~Keren

I had seen Santa Cruz organic lemon juice around (Safeway )but not until today did I find, in a health food store, Santa Cruz organic lime juice. I haven't tried it yet but
I'm guessing it will be fine if there are no fresh limes or a bottle of Nellie's around.

Regarding Nellie and Joe's vs fresh squeezed lime juice: I think it was Sabu that determined through selfless experimentation that in a Mai Tai one should use about 2/3 of the amount of key lime juice as you would use lime juice. I use that as a general rule of thumb.

I realize that Nellie and Joe's doesn't taste like fresh (Persian?) lime juice but I have squeezed fresh key limes a few times and I think that the N&J's is extremely close in taste to fresh key limes. Close enough that I don't buy key limes anymore. Those buggers are little and a pain in the ass to squeeze. I've purchased another brand of bottled key lime juice (Florida Key West) but it sucks. Stick to Nellie and Joe's, it's great stuff.

On 2005-04-30 18:03, mrtikibar wrote:
I had seen Santa Cruz organic lemon juice around (Safeway )but not until today did I find, in a health food store, Santa Cruz organic lime juice.

Wandering through BevMo yesterday getting Stock for TO I thought I saw somthing liuke this as well......

That RealLemon and RealLime concentrate stuff in the bottle. Has anyone used that instead of real lime or lemon juice? I bought a small bottle, but haven't experimented yet. I was wondering if anyone has gone throught the headache yet. And if, so, how did you dilute it, etc.

Just bought a new house, and in the back yard there was 2 orange trees, and another tree that looked like a lemon tree, to my surprise it ended up being a lime! I'm so excited about this!

I'm surprised limes are so hard to come by in Israel, given the climate. I'm also surprised at all the people from the US posting here who have a hard time getting limes during part of the year. I live in Minneapolis, MN and can get them 12 months out of the year--the quality is generally good and I pay $0.25 to $0.60 apiece depending on the season. Is it because of limes being grown locally and they don't ship them in the rest of the year? (Whereas they are always shipped in where I live)

[ Edited by: Quince_at_Dannys on 2005-05-02 06:46 ]

Quince, for the most part you can get limes and lemons year round, speaking only for myself, I have a tendancy to buy them and they, for the most part, go to waste, so an alternative lemon/lime juice that can stay preserved would be ideal.

btw, ny wife uses Nellie and Joe's to make key lime pie...excellent stuff!!!

Personally, I use a combination of Real Lemon and Lime, real lemons and limes, and Nellie and Joe's.

You know, visiting this forum during work is just not good...now all I want to do is go home and drink :roll:
:drink:

[i] Rose's lime juice sucks.

Surely Rose's is a cordial and as such, does it's job rather well. I wouldn't use anything else in my gimlet.

Trader Woody

On 2005-04-28 11:51, nuKKe wrote:
Yes, I know that the answer is 'no', but what if limes are unavailable most of the year and even during the season few stores carry them?

You have a few options, which seem to be improving with time. Try to source "Key Lime Juice" produced with as minimal processing and chemicals as you can find. I see this in supermarkets occasionally, usually in the baking section. You'll probably need to correct its sweet/sour profile with SuperFine sugar, but it tastes pretty good.

Alternatively, I've recently discovered the line of "Nantucket" drink mixers, which from the ingredient list, looks very nice. I've used their "Mojito" mix, which features fresh lime juice, cane sugar, and mint oil - to good effect in my Mai Tais. [this could take care of both your fresh lime and fresh mint ingredients].

I can't imagine fresh limes never being available, but I realise living in California distorts my impressions of the rest of the world.

Good luck.

=Kukoae=

Limes found!
Unfortunately.
Small, overpriced and not juicy at all.
Two more months til July, and meanwhile - a preserve and lemon mix, which did its job just fine on Wednesday's cocktail night.

Nukke,

I've found that if you soak lime or lemons in hot water, you get more juice out of them.

On another note, I used a combination of 1/2 fresh squeezed lemon juice and 1/2 of that bottled Real Lemon in the recipe listed in Beach Bum Berry's Grog Log (Trader Vic's Grog) and it changed the taste of the Grog.

I entered it for the Grog Tasting at the Oasis V, and some grog connoisseurs picked up on it.

I got around to trying Santa Cruz Organic Lime Juice and thought it was fine. It's nice to have access to another decent bottled lime juice, this one being an alternative to Key Lime. It may be hard to find so here is a link to their web site.
http://www.scojuice.com/find/index.html

[ Edited by: mrtikibar on 2005-05-30 11:22 ]

I was just discovered the solution to the dreaded lack of fresh lime juice! If you're really in an extremely tough pinch and can't find the authentic juice to save your life... this might suffice.

I always get asked "do you have any limes" but if I have remembered to buy any for a party, it is usually only enough for garnish. I was seriously thinking about getting a juicer, stocking up on limes and freezing the juice for future use, but it doesn't seem like a good idea since I only have a Tiki party about once every 3 months. I was looking through threads on limes and glad I read this one again as it reaffirms my investment in Nellie & Joe's Lime Juice (which I keep stocked in the fridge), great website too. Reminds me though that I need to restock from BevMo.

https://stores.floridakeys.com/keylimejuice/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=1

I'll back up what's been said about Santa Cruz Juice Co. We have a couple on hand at all times, "just in case"...

http://www.scojuice.com/products/100_citrus

Vamp, being a fellow NorCal, you should be able to find their lemon and lime juices close to you.
...I just checked there website, and it looks like their selling nationwide now, so everyone can get them...

[ Edited by: Haole'akamai 2009-03-16 08:36 ]

how is the taste of the Santa Cruz Lime juice to fresh squeezed?
it looks pretty good,
how long does it last?

can you freeze it to last longer?

there is a place 1 mile from me that has it.
thanks
Jeff(bigtikidude)

Nothing, of course, beats quality fresh citrus, but I have found SC Juice Co juice quite comparable. If we're making punches for parties at Lund Manor, it's the prerequisite juice in bulk; you just can't beat it for the cost/time/taste ratio.

If we're just making one or two cocktails, we'll still use fresh citrus, unless we have a open bottle in the fridge. Once open, we've found the juice stays decent for about a week. We haven't tried freezing it.

Thanks for the reference, will check out the local stores for some Santa Cruz Juice too. I really could plant some lime trees at my house but I am the world's worse gardener. Saplings, seedlings, and well-established plants cringe when I look at them...I can hear them say "Oh my gawd...avert your roots, drop your leaves, the plant killer is eyeing us!!!"

I am destined to a life of artificial plants and plastic bottles of citrus juices. Now if they only made artificial mint...I would be set for life.

Santa Cruz is my back-up choice too for fresh limes & lemons. At least here in the Northwest, it's widely available.

odwalla juices(if you can get them) are usually really good. i buy their lemon and their lime juice bottled to make my sour mix.they sell them at the grocery store closest to me. in the NE area yuo can get it at stop and shop. im sure whole foods has it as well.

[ Edited by: arobinson19 2009-03-23 07:05 ]

On 2009-03-23 07:05, arobinson19 wrote:
odwalla juices(if you can get them) are usually really good. i buy their lemon and their lime juice bottled to make my sour mix.they sell them at the grocery store closest to me. in the NE area yuo can get it at stop and shop. im sure whole foods has it as well.

I've seen Odwalla limeades and lemonades, but never the 100% lime or lemon juice. Where do you get it?

On 2009-03-23 08:51, Haole'akamai wrote:

On 2009-03-23 07:05, arobinson19 wrote:
odwalla juices(if you can get them) are usually really good. i buy their lemon and their lime juice bottled to make my sour mix.they sell them at the grocery store closest to me. in the NE area yuo can get it at stop and shop. im sure whole foods has it as well.

I've seen Odwalla limeades and lemonades, but never the 100% lime or lemon juice. Where do you get it?

im pretty sure u can find it in the grocery store. i know the bar i sometimes go to gets it . ill have to ask them

Pee?

Santa Cruz lime juice is the lime juice of choice at Brenda's Tiki Hut when we have big parties or fresh limes aren't available. Of course, in preparation for big parties I usually end up juicing two or three bags of limes from Costco then freezing what's left over. (Ha! Like we ever have any lime juice left over...)

On 2009-03-23 20:48, RevBambooBen wrote:
Pee?

Doowed, LIME juice, not LIMEY juice...

anyone tried using these? i'm almost positive i've had them ripped up and spiked in a mojito before. anyway, they are called "kaffir lime leaves" and are basically concentrated lime essence used in thai cooking, should be able to get them at the asian grocers.

I'm not sure how the leaves taste, but I do know the Hangar One company uses Kaffir lime to infuse their vodkas with; i'm willing to bet they'll be good, but not taste like the conventional limes we're used to.

On 2005-04-28 11:51, nuKKe wrote:
Is there an alternative to lime juice?

Kiwi is an excellent substitute with drinkers who are conditioned to Rose's lime juice, you get the tart And the sweetness together.

Yes I know, I receive one demerit for mentioning Rose's lime juice.

On 2009-04-08 01:37, Unga Bunga wrote:
Kiwi is an excellent substitute

As in squeezing kiwi?

It's pretty cool, how this thread is still going on, nearly 4 years since it started.