It Pops Like Caviar, Tastes Like Lime, and Is Taking Over Menus
Finger limes are a great addition to fresh seafood, vegetables, and even pasta.
The dull exterior of the finger lime gives no hint of the delicacy inside; about 2 to 3 inches long, it lacks the spherical shape of more conventional citrus fruit (hence the name).
Photographer: Danny Kim for Bloomberg Businessweek
It’s difficult to find an ingredient as delightful as a finger lime. Inside the tube-shaped fruit are pearl-like citrus bubbles in pastel hues of pale green, yellow, coral, and dusky red. In an age that embraces “ugly” produce, the finger lime is unfailingly exquisite, as if created by a horticultural Dr. Seuss.
The citrus hails from Australia, where it’s also known as a caviar lime. Almost everything about the fruit is compact. In 1915 scientist Walter Swingle labeled it a “microcitrus” because of its small leaves. It grows on short, thorny trees in the rainforests along the coasts of Queensland and New South Wales.