Key lime

Browse All Key lime Recipes

Name Variations

 * Florida key lime
 * Mexican lime

About Key lime
Citrus fruit, about the size of golf balls, and round. The fruits are pale yellow-green, the juice is yellow and very tart, more so than standard limes. Grow in Florida, the Keys and other tropical places in the Caribbean.

This evergreen tree is in the Rue family, Rutaceae, which also includes citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons and kumquats. Limes are native to Southeast Asia, and almost certainly originated in Indonesia or Malaysia. The Key lime which is also called Citrus aurantifolia, as well known as the Mexican lime, West Indian lime or Bartender's lime, has a globose fruit that is greenish-yellow when ripe but usually picked green and valued for its sourness and flavor. The Key lime, along with the larger but less flavorful common Persian lime, is one of two citrus fruits identified as sour or acid limes, and often sold generically as a lime. The leaves are ovate long, resembling orange leaves The flowers are yellowish white with a light purple tinge on the margins. Flowers and fruit appear throughout the year but are most abundant from May to September. The fruit is smaller, seedier, and less hardy than that of the Persian lime, but has a stronger parfume and acidity, as well as a thinner rind. It is perhaps most distinguished as an ingredient in the eponymous Key lime pie. It is also favored in drinks such as the margarita.