Limed Again!
Limes are one of those great summer fruits that we’re warming to here in New Zealand. Imagine teaspoons full of Saffron Lime Curd put into ready prepared pastry cases and dusted with sifted icing sugar OR brushing fresh apricots with Lime and Vanilla Bean Syrup, grilling them and serving with mascarpone drizzled with more syrup. My mouth is watering. We eat food with our eyes but I can definitely smell it and taste it as I write.
Limes are a generally smaller fruit than lemons with a fresher taste and a more aromatic smell. They belong to the citrus plant family Rutaceae. The whole plant is used for culinary purposes including the juice, rind, pulp, leaves and the fruits are usually picked and used when unripe. It’s an uncommonly versatile fruit in that regard. When fully ripe the fruit are yellow.
The Lime is a native of the East Indies and has spread all over the world in tropical and near tropical regions. Here we are going to concentrate on the three best known varieties used in cooking. Arabian traders introduced it to North Africa and the Near East towards the end of the 10th Century AD and it was in turn introduced in the Mediterranean by the Crusaders during the 12th and 13th Centuries AD.
Christopher Columbus is credited with having introduced it to the New World and Spanish immigrants took it on to Florida where the success in its cultivation in the Florida Keys led to it being referred to as the Key Lime. However, Key limes are much smaller than the Persian limes. Persian Lime also known as Tahiti Lime (Citrus latifolia) has uncertain origins. It is thought to be a hybrid of the Mexican Lime and Citron (Citrus medica) developed in the early 20th century. They are larger than the Mexican lime usually seedless and less less acidic.
The more widely know Kaffir lime (Citrus hystrix) is native to South East Asia. It’s popular among many people groups but is more particularly well known as a condiment in Thai, Indonesian and Malaysian cuisines. In these foodstyles the leaves are mostly used. As this plant grows wild in many places one can only assume that it has been used for culinary purposes for thousands of years.
A 40 minute drive north from me here in Waipukurau is St Andrews at the entrance (from Hastings) to Havelock North. It’s the home of St Andrews Limes where you’ll find Anthony and Alison Williams. “They love life and love limes. They also love a challenge. So what better challenge than to grow limes that aren’t supposed to grow where they lived, then develop products using lime juice then package and market those products. As you might imagine the doing has been much more eventful than the telling.
It’s a real Kiwi story of ingenuity and determination that began in 2001. The Orchardist and the English teacher finding the time to start another venture, following their dream of becoming New Zealand’s leading limey’s and along the way creating delicious original products whilst also being able to enjoy a Margarita on the back veranda and growing older gracefully together.
As you may have guessed by now, St Andrews Limes grow limes. Then they squeeze the living lime juice out of them to use in delicious ways for everyone to enjoy. They started almost by accident and had been told many times that limes wouldn’t cope with the frosts of Havelock North. Luckily no one told the limes. They just love it here. One of the highlights of 2006 for them was seeing St Andrews Limes, Lime and Chili Plash named as one of New Zealand’s top 100 food products by Cuisine Magazine. They were delighted to gain recognition for St Andrews Limes dedication to quality.
Since 2001 we’ve developed a range of 19 lime based products which you’ll find in their online store and all of which are produced at the grove in a purpose built kitchen. Each batch is handmade, stirred lovingly with a wooden spoon, using wholesome ingredients and without using preservatives, colouring agents or fillers.”
Those were Allison’s tasty tidbits I was mentioning at the top of the blog and it seems she’s quite a dab hand at cocktails too. So for you girls having some quality girl-time here’s a gentle way to ease into the afternoon. Nothing says summer better than a Daiquiri right, so:
Passionfruit and Pineapple Daiquiris
1 large peeled banana
1/4 cup Lime and Passionfruit Crush (sieved to remove pips)
2 cups pineapple juice
1/2 cup white rum
3 tbsp Cointreau
dash bitters
2 cups ice cubes
Makes 4 cocktails
Blend all ingredients and puree until smooth. Serve immediately (mainly because any later is just too much of a slow train running!) But perhaps you prefer something lighter, how about:
Decidedly Different Champagne Cocktails
4 x sugar cubes
4 x teaspoons Lime and Lemongrass Drizzle
A semi-dry Champagne
Fresh strawberries
Place sugar cube into long fluted glasses. Add Lime and Lemongrass Drizzle, 1 teaspoon per glass, top with champagne, add strawberry and serve. Simply delicious!
This is one of the very distinct advantages of living in Hawke’s Bay, the food is wonderful. The produce is stunning and the people have a fantastic No.8 wire attitude just like Anth and Allison.
