r/Tiki • u/B-Rad911 • 8h ago
Lime sizes recently.
Is everyone else finding the lines to be about the size of a golf ball everywhere? These don’t even look like they would have a 1/2 oz of juice in them. Is there something going on with the crops this year like drought or something else affecting them?
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u/VegasFoodFace 7h ago edited 7h ago
Those are Mexican style limes. If you're looking for the typical supermarket Persian limes they may be out of season and this is what the market can get. I actually prefer it. Less juice but higher acidity and distinct limey flavor rather than typical supermarket limes which just taste like green lemons.
These are the limes you always find in the Hispanic markets. And the preferred limes of bartenders in Vegas for size and concentrated lime flavor, one small wedge squeezed into your rum and coke and it's limey. Don't just buy groceries based on appearance. Know what you're buying and why.
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u/Synthetic88 6h ago
I was going to suggest hispanic grocery stores, they’re often lower price and higher quantity. I also find smooth and shiny limes are juicier than rough ones.
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u/ngmcs8203 5h ago
I tend to get 1oz no matter where I buy them or how big they are. Every once in a while I get a stinker from Costco but the best looking limes are always at the Mexican market. Doesn’t always guarantee more juice though.
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u/VegasFoodFace 3h ago
That is always a risk. Sometimes these small limes are less juicy. As all natural products there are going to have more variation than typical large scale factory farmed varieties.
The most amazing thing when I was in LA, and as Filipino's we traded with local Mexican's in the neighborhood. Filipino Calamansi for Mexican Limes.
We both loved our particular fruits locally grown because as always tree ripened fruits are always going to be juicier and more flavorful.
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u/ngmcs8203 3h ago
I need a calamansi tree when we move down south. Frozen calamansi is ok in a pinch but nothing beats fresh.
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u/VegasFoodFace 3h ago edited 3h ago
I often substitute calamansi juice and people are always pleasantly surprised because it has the taste of lemon but with notes of distinct orange in it. And though Filipino's prefer unripe sour ones. In my tiki mod recipes everyone always preferred the less sour more orangey aroma of the ripe ones. Which ironically when they get orange Filipinos kinda throw them away.
But the Mexicans we traded with always preferred the ripe ones. Go figure. Just a cultural thing to prefer some unripe fruits as it's own food, like unripe mangoes, excellent when paired with sauteed shrimp paste, bagoong.
I served these as garnishes for mango based drinks. Cubed unripe mango with just a tiny bit of shrimp paste. On a skewer, with a sweet mago cube as a comparison. My goodness you should have seen everyone's reaction. Weird looks at first when I told them unripe mango and shrimp paste. Might as well have cracked open a balut in front of them. But trust me it makes sense.
Super complementary to your average Triple Sec to up the fresh citrusy aromas. It's primarily aroma when it comes to calamansi.
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u/ABotelho23 7h ago
They're different types of limes. My local grocery will cycle between two types. I often check their overstock under the produce shelf to find the fresher/different type of lime still in their box.
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u/cheapskateskirtsteak 8h ago
Earlier this year the cartels saw that America had a bad lime crop and blockaded the roads from a lot of the mexican lime farms, so it has kinda been shit since
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u/__WayDown 8h ago
Interesting. I never see American limes in Canada. It's always Mexican. They've been really good lately.
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u/cheapskateskirtsteak 7h ago
It was forever ago when I lived up there fresh citrus was a rare delicacy
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u/__WayDown 7h ago
Lemon is usually USA or South Africa.
Oranges USA, Australia, South Africa, Morocco.
Grapefruit, pomelo, or other citrus are from all over. I've never seen a white grapefruit in a regular grocery store before though.
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u/cheapskateskirtsteak 2h ago
you gotta live in the gulf coast like I do now to find white grapefruit
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u/secretskin13 7h ago
Check out an Asian market if you’re near one…produce is always significantly better.
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u/alritewall 8h ago
I got 80oz of lime juice from 12 limes yesterday using the super juice method. Changed the game for me. Will just miss having lime shell garnish
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u/ABotelho23 7h ago
I got 80oz of lime juice from 12 limes yesterday using the super juice method.
I mean... That's not actually lime juice...
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u/Extension-Figure2011 7h ago
They look normal to me. I have not had any issues with limes this year. My go to stores proce fluctuates 4 to 6 to 12 for $1.
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u/Cultural-Salad-4583 6h ago
Incredible. In the Midwest I can’t seem to find them for less than 50-60 cents apiece.
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u/B-Rad911 7h ago
Thanks for the conversation, didn't realize there were Mexican and Persian limes sold commonly in America. Next time, I will get a banana too.
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u/brandonfrombrobible 6h ago
I just bought a bunch of limes to make ceviche and noticed this. Needed double the amount of limes I usually use. Glad it wasn't just me!
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u/twilightjumper 6h ago
I have the opposite problem lately, personally. Limes that are massive. Like, the size of a large lemon, and they have near 2oz of juice in them.
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u/TheHearseDriver 5h ago
I can’t discern the size of those limes. I grow my own (SoCal) and mine are usually about 2-3” in diameter. Sadly, I can’t use all of mine and usually compost >95%.
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u/depleteduranian 5h ago
Sunspot activity, climate change, fracturing global trade networks, end of single world reserve currency, political and military upheaval.
A lot of the tiki bar crowd are also, ironically, northerners - where it's harder to source good produce. But I assume the first part is how historians will remember why the limes suddenly became half the size and leather-hard, and why arugula was sold half rotted on grocery store shelves. You're not going crazy, I promise.
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u/Mitchford 4h ago
I’ve given up on good limes in the northeast. I just use Nelly and Joe’s and i haven’t really looked back. I do have a bar top juicer, but I mostly use it to make orange crushes at my girlfriend’s family 4th of July party
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u/HeadAd369 1h ago
I missing having my own lime tree and letting the fruit ripen to a glorious yellow instead of that hard, dry green
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u/Tacos_Polackos 8h ago
Golf ball sized and dry at the supermarket; tennis ball sized, 2.5oz of juice each, at the small organic store in my neighborhood. Im paying the $1ea for the big ones.