Lime Shortage

Just bought some at $2.99 a pound. Same as last week. Juicy and tasty too!
Short article in Time magazine sheds reveals some logical reasons that make more sense then some of the stories/rumors that I’ve been hearing.
Cheers

On 2014-04-16 16:53, MadDogMike wrote:
If you soak small lemons in blue food color and water will they turn green? :lol: You can use them to garnish the drinks of your less savvy friends and keep the real limes for yourself :D

heh-- or a slice of kiwi fruit!

At our local Pavilions (and Vons) limes are 50 cents each. They were included in the "just for u" savings thing my wife signs up for and we ended up paying about $1.50 for seven limes. Should have stocked up...

Just an FYI: In this time of dire crisis, I have been working to stretch my precious limes. Now, after I cut and squeeze them, I then put both spent shells back in the squeezer together and give it one more good wring. It produces a nice extra bit of juice, though you have to turn the juicer sideways and watch out for errant squirts in every direction (watch the eyes!).

Swanky, what's your juicer of choice? I have both the large ratchet-action handheld model, plus a couple table-top "lever action" presses. Plus an electric Black & Decker juicer when I have a large volume of fruits to process. Thanks...

Times like this I thank God I live in a predominantly Mexican neighborhood where limes are considered a staple and usually cheaper than the big chains. I've been using a Citristar electric reamer if I'm making drinks for more than myself with really good results. A must if you're into grapefruit.

On 2014-04-17 06:17, AceExplorer wrote:
Swanky, what's your juicer of choice? I have both the large ratchet-action handheld model, plus a couple table-top "lever action" presses. Plus an electric Black & Decker juicer when I have a large volume of fruits to process. Thanks...

I have one of these for small batches.

When I need to juice a lot for big gatherings I have one of these.

For oranges and grapefruit I have a regular old juicer with a large insert.

Please contibute to my Kickstarter campaign to acquire "over priced limes" for
my home bar.....

On 2014-04-23 14:31, Atomic Tiki Punk wrote:
Please contibute to my Kickstarter campaign to acquire "over priced limes" for
my home bar.....

Where is the Link?

I'll take cash, be right over, thanks!

The Lime Shortage Deepens:

http://blog.culintro.com/lime-shortage-deepens/

I read the article, thanks.

Out of adversity comes innovation. Bartenders, rise to the challenge!

If you live in San Fernando Valley, Vallarta Market has some nice regular limes for $1.25 per pound and key lime for 99c per pound.

I just got limes for 4 for a dollar at the local save a lot.

Storm

Not everyone is declaring the lime shortage over. A Google search as of today (5/25/14) has some very recent news articles reporting that we're not out of the woods yet.

Local home improvement stores are often out of Persian lime trees. A recent re-stock at several of my Lowe's stores brought us nice looking but very young lime trees for $39.95 each. I bought one as a housewarming gift for a local home tiki bartender friend of mine. He'll have to be very careful with it during the winter season so that it doesn't die in the relatively short freezes we get here. I advised him to consider waiting a year before planting it in the ground.

As an alternative to using limes, he went ahead and took my suggestion to try using lemons here-and-there. He's been making vodka and ginger beer Moscow Mules with lemons, and they have been very well accepted by his friends and family and fellow drunks like me.

Remember that you can use your leftover spent lime and lemon shells to freshen up that stinky old garbage disposal in your kitchen. Re-use, re-cycle, re-sober up for the next round.

Tip, tip, hurrah!

I went to the farmers market yesterday and they had decent limes 5 for a dollar, latter I went to the Bravo and theirs were 7 for a dollar.

YMMV
Storm

My local Whole Foods still has them at .79 each. Of course, being WF that might be the normal price.

Well, here around Charlotte, NC they are still fetching $.99/lime. Ugh!

• Dale

On 2014-05-26 17:48, littlegiles wrote:
Well, here around Charlotte, NC they are still fetching $.99/lime. Ugh!

• Dale

But as a consolation, we can't even get Shrimp & Grits here, never mind good grits even.

[ Edited by: nui 'umi 'umi 2014-05-26 23:42 ]

Hey littlegiles - Trader Joe's has 'em for .39 each, FYI!

On 2014-05-26 18:40, Atomic Tiki Punk wrote:

But as a consolation, we can't even get Shrimp & Grits here, never mind good grits even.

well then plant y'self some grit trees, and gits'em fresh...

Was at my local Sprouts here in Southern Cali and they're at 4 for a dollar.. Yes!

Local produce market is down to 69 cents a pound.

Costco is at $7 for the 5lb bag in my neck of the woods. Better than the 99 cents a lime I was paying at the grocery store!

On 2014-06-30 16:49, Greg_D_R wrote:
Costco is at $7 for the 5lb bag in my neck of the woods. Better than the 99 cents a lime I was paying at the grocery store!

Yes, and Costco has had cases at a time again lately, in contrast to a couple of bags or none at all three months ago. I also saw 10 limes for $1 at Vons last week.

So, are we ready to declare the Great Lime Shortage of 2014 has past?

$3.69 a lb. at my local organic grocer.

On 2014-07-01 08:25, Loki-Tiki wrote:

So, are we ready to declare the Great Lime Shortage of 2014 has past?

And right in time for summer!

Shortage over? That would be great! I'm celebrating by making a new batch of Falernum tonight. I, also, discovered 5-pound bags of limes at Costco on Sunday.

Lime trees: fun - fun - fun 'til daddy took the ladder away!

Time now to concentrate on the next supply crisis: Lemon Hart 151 http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=47455&forum=10&start=15

Today... Yoo, hoo,... oh, Mai Tais?

That's awesome. Probably the best price I've seen so far anytime anywhere.

I made Mai Tais over the weekend. My limes at this time were kinda small and more tart than what I like. But it worked. And I'm sure we'll be getting consistently more of the normal size limes as the situation continues to get back to normal.

I'm at work right now - wish I could be sipping a nice cold Mai Tai.

Dang, my 10 for $1 pic is already 1up'd :)

Wow,

In Mesa AZ, bought limes today at a Safeway Supermarket, 4 for a buck.
Sign said they were from Mexico. They were larger than I have seen in a while.

Somebody is making money.

But those are conflict limes!

On 2014-07-08 23:22, Atomic Tiki Punk wrote:
But those are conflict limes!

Better than a conflicted lime, is it not?

"Am I a lemon or a lime or a limon?"

http://chipreview.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/funyuns-chile-limon.jpg?w=262&h=398

Both of my local WalMarts were out of lemons this week... the next citrus shortage?

Yet another reason to avoid Wal-Mart!

FINALLY! Limes here are now selling 6/$1 . . . best price in a long time!
Thank you lime Gods.

Limes are cheap again, but the quality is very poor, imo. I would gladly pay a dollar a lime for better quality at the moment. Pain in the ass trying to adjust my Mai Tai recipe for the limes we've been getting. As a result, I've been drinking a lot of Hurricanes instead.

And the limes I'm getting now seem more tart than in the past. But maybe it's just me? I'm finding myself upping the "sweet" a bit more to compensate.

Reviving and old thread rather than starting a new one...

Price of limes in the Phoenix area have jumped up to 50 cents each the last few weeks.
The size and quality has gone down at the same time.

Anybody know the long-term forecast?

Hoping this is just a short term bump in the road.

I did a couple Google searches and didn't get any hits on anything really solid, although there is the article below from 4/1/2015 - I know that's April Fool's Day - but I don't think it's a joke in any way. And - hey - now you'll be able to tell people that you read "Produce News"!

http://www.producenews.com/markets-and-trends/15459-high-lime-market-falls-short-of-record-setting-2014-level

High lime market falls short of record-setting 2014 level
by John Groh | April 01, 2015
In 2014, a combination of factors caused an unprecedented spike in the lime market, sending prices well above the $100 mark for a 40-pound carton and causing a shortage of the fruit at both retail and foodservice. This year, the situation is not so sour.

While still much higher than normal, prices for a 40-pound carton were in the $48-58 range on March 27, or about half of what they were at this time in 2014.

“It is different than last year,” said Richard Ruiz, president of Ruiz Sales in Edinburg, TX, a supplier of Mexican tropical items that specializes in limes. “We will have more supplies this year, so prices will not be as high.”

A December 2013 freeze in Mexico caused bloom drop several months later, resulting in reduced supply in 2014. Additionally, Mexico held more for the domestic market and many growers who did send fruit to the export market accelerated harvesting schedules to capitalize on the high prices, resulting in a glut of small 235-size fruit in the pipeline.

Ruiz said that some growers in Mexico increased lime acreage in response to last year’s high market. Additionally, more fruit is being sourced from Colombia and Guatemala.

“Overall, there are more limes on the market this year than last year,” he said March 26. “A week ago, there were 241 loads that crossed into the U.S. A week later, that had increased to 333 loads, in just six days.”

Ronnie Cohen, a partner in Vision Import Group, based in Hackensack, NJ, which has a branch office in Pharr, TX, concurred with the state of the lime market, pegging it at $50-52 in late March.

“It’s hard to say what the market will do from day to day, but I think it has reached its peak,” he said March 27. “I think the price will come off next week, but it remains to be seen how far and how fast.”

Cohen said citrus greening disease has caused Mexican growers to pull affected citrus trees and replant with limes, which will put more fruit on the market when the trees reach maturity. But he is confident that demand in the U.S. market will continue to outpace supply.

“Consumption is definitely up from previous years,” he said. “If you look at the population of the United States, it is a true melting pot, and Hispanic populations are continuing to grow. That is causing an increased demand for limes.”

Eye on quality

Ruiz said lime shippers and retail buyers must scrutinize quality more than ever with the increased volume of fruit.

“The industry needs to be truthful about quality issues,” he said. “Some people are trying to sell No. 2 fruit at No. 1 prices, and that can have a negative effect because consumers can have a bad experience and get turned off. The cheapest fruit is often the most expensive fruit when you take into account the increased shrink and waste, and the potential loss of future sales if consumers have a bad eating experience.”

Cohen said some fruit was blanched as a result of rain, but quality has been steadily improving since the beginning of the year.

As the saying goes, you can’t judge a book by its cover, and “you can’t judge a lime by its color,” said Cohen. “The fact is, the off-color fruit is just has juicy as the green fruit, but U.S. consumers tend to like their limes with a deep green color.”

He said the new lime crop will hit the market around the middle of April, and there will be good supplies of high-quality fruit available to meet promotions.

This $.50 per lime stuff is killing me!

On 2015-04-14 08:44, jamoke wrote:
Reviving and old thread rather than starting a new one...

Price of limes in the Phoenix area have jumped up to 50 cents each the last few weeks.
The size and quality has gone down at the same time.

Anybody know the long-term forecast?

Hoping this is just a short term bump in the road.

We are getting the same overpriced and anemic/juiceless limes in Florida. I'm not liking it.

I live near Sunny&Rummy, and I can second that with the anemic limes!

Just bought some lime at our neighborhood Middle-eastern store of $1.10/pound. I actually have a nice lime tree in the backyard but all the lime is gone, I wonder if the season is over for limes?

Lime trees (depending on the variety) are supposed to produce year round.