The lowly lime.
Diminutive. Sharp. Puckering. A peculiar, if not noteworthy, shade of green.
The lowly lime has become one of our most treasured kitchen friends during this past year in exile.
At first it was simply a matter of necessity. As soon as we landed here outside of Austin just over a year ago we found the astoundingly hard, hyper-chlorinated water pumped out of Lake Travis to be almost unpalatable. A hardworking Britta filter helped a bit, though we were saved by another displaced Montanan who suggested plunking a slice of fresh lime in one’s water glass would save the day.
Sure enough, it did, though we’d never have guessed the addiction that simple suggestion would spawn. No matter what the circumstance or what the time of day we must have our limes swimming temptingly in the water / ice tea / cold beer in hand.
We’ve become somewhat of a connoisseur of limes these days and have taken to squeezing fresh lime juice for margaritas and other libations, legions of recipes and of course key lime pie wouldn’t be the same without it.
These days running out of fresh limes is worthy of a call to the cagiest divorce lawyer (no matter who was at fault) and a dash to the nearest purveyor of quality lime stock.
A few days ago a friend (the same displaced Montanan mentioned above) invited us for dinner and set me to work immediately with a pile of limes at the cutting board.
The said limes were sliced and trimmed, muddled with a touch of sugar and shaken with cachaca (sugarcane sourced Brazilian brandy) and ice.
The resulting Caipirinha was shockingly refreshing and immediately moved onto the top five summer adult beverage list. You don’t want to miss this one.
There’s a special lime out there right now with your name on it.
If you hold it up next to your ear and listen carefully, you’ll hear the word ‘caipirinha’ whispered over and over. (Well, actually not all limes do that, sometimes they say ‘key lime pie’……)
3 limes
1/2 cup sugar
1 and 1/2 quarts small ice cubes
1 generous cup cachaca (sugarcane sourced Brazilian brandy)
Lime slices and sugarcane swizzle sticks
Prep the limes. Scrub the limes and trim the ends; cut in half crosswise and then cut each half into eight pieces.
Muddle. In each of 4 double old-fashioned glasses place 12 lime pieces. Sprinkle 2 tbs sugar in each glass and muddle until the sugar is dissolved; stir occasionally.
Shake it. Add 1 and 1/2 cups of ice and 1/4 cup of the cachaca to each glass, pour into a cocktail shaker and using the glass as the shaker lid, shake artfully until well combined and well chilled. Have the most attractive member of your team perform the shake; it helps immensely if they’re of the opposite sex.
Garnish and go. Pour back into the glass, repeat with the remaining glasses. Garnish with a lime slice and a sugarcane swizzle stick.
Oh – you’ll want to have someone start slicing more limes.
Enjoy.
Tags: Friday Feast
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