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 Entertainment | Restaurants & Dining | August 2006 
Just the Right Time for a Mexican Lime
 Karen Gillingham - Tribune Media Services
| | Limeade is a perfect summer cooler. (LATimes) |
San Miguel De Allende, Mexico - In steamy summer Mexico, you ask for un limon if you want a lemon and una lima if you need a lime. Una limonada will get you a lemonade. But for limeade - well, literally, una bebida a base de jugo de lima or agua fresca de limon verde.
However you say it, Mexican limes are the perfect warm-weather seasoning.
"Go into any Mexican kitchen," says Eva Garcia Jimenez, proprietress of Magdalena's Bed and Breakfast in San Miguel de Allende, "and you are likely to find a big bowl of limas. They are not only a common ingredient in everyday Mexican cooking. They show up on almost every plate, both as garnish and squeezable condiment. Here they are used in many nonculinary ways, too."
A squeeze of lime juice may not be as strong as disinfectant for a cutting board, but in Mexico it is a common and tastier alternative to bleach. Dab a bit of jugo de lima on an itchy insect bite for some quick relief. Upset stomach? Suck on a lime.
And Mexican limes are perfect for summer eating and drinking, because they go so well in heat-quenching foods.
As Key limes, the diminutive Mexican limes were first popularized in this country in Florida, which has been transforming them into pie for longer than anyone who is reading this can remember. It has only been in the past decade or so, however, that the fruit has been showing up as Mexican limes in the produce departments of markets elsewhere in the United States, especially in areas with large Hispanic populations.
Net bags of Mexican limes are usually sold alongside the larger, greener, seedless Persian limes that Americans squeeze into their margaritas and mojitos. But the Mexican lime provides a greater flavor punch than does the Persian version, as celebrated by American poet Campbell McGrath:
Curiously yellow hand-grenade
of flavor; Molotov cocktail
for a revolution against the bland
The Mexican lime ripens to full yellow and loses weight rapidly at normal room temperature in warm climates.
Go for brightly colored, firm fruit that feels heavy for the size. The ideal stage of ripeness is when the color has changed from dark to light green, the surface is smooth and the fruit feels slightly soft to the touch. Avoid fruit that feels overly soft, looks shriveled or has blemishes.
Whole limes will keep for up to 10 days in a plastic bag in the refrigerator, although they may last much longer. One way to store them is under water in a closed jar.
You can easily squeeze the juice from a halved or quartered Mexican lime with your fingers, but you will get the seeds, too. The inexpensive die-cast aluminum hand-held squeezers with double handles used in Mexico are beginning to be copied by American gadget makers, and these presses, in one step, literally turn lime halves inside out, extracting all the juice while straining out the pulp and the seeds.
You can freeze the juice or even the whole fruit, but once a whole Mexican lime has thawed it will be most suitable for dishes where it is chopped or pureed. Bear in mind that you will probably use only small quantities of lime juice in most recipes, so it's a good idea to freeze the juice is usable amounts. Divided ice trays are useful for this purpose.
Then do as they do in Mexico: Use the juice to marinate steak, fish, poultry.
Try squeezing it over a taco, a burrito or grilled and buttered corn on the cob, along with a sprinkling of chile powder.
Poke a Mexican lime quarter into the long neck of a cerveza or drop a half into a glass of water.
Use it to spike up salsas, salad dressings and marinades.
Make ceviche, mojitos, margaritas or one of Eva Garcia's recipes that follow.
LIMEADE
Serves about 12
2 quarts water
1 cup sugar, or to taste
Finely grated peel from 5 Mexican limes
1 cup freshly squeezed Mexican lime juice, from about 20 limes
Ice
Lime quarters for garnish
Pour water and sugar to taste into 1-gallon glass jug or pitcher. Stir to dissolve sugar. Add grated lime peel and stir. Add lime juice and ice cubes. Stir. Serve in tall glasses, garnished with skewered lime quarters. Makes about 12 servings.
Nutritional analysis per serving: 77 calories,0 grams fat, 19 grams carbohydrates, trace protein, 0 milligrams cholesterol, trace sodium, trace fiber, 0 percent of calories from fat.
EVA'S POSTRE DE FRUTA ENCREMADA
Serves 4 to 6
3-ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped fresh pineapple
1 cup chopped apple
1 banana, sliced
Grated peel and juice of 1 Mexican lime
In large bowl, beat cream cheese with cream, vanilla, honey and cinnamon until smooth. Fold in pineapple and apple. Transfer to serving dishes and top with banana slices. Sprinkle with lime peel and juice.
Nutritional analysis per serving, based on 4: 310 calories, 19 grams fat, 36 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams protein, 64 milligrams cholesterol, 76 milligrams sodium, 2 grams fiber, 52 percent of calories from fat.
Eva Garcia, Magdalena's Bed and Breakfast, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico |
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