Desert lime

What it is

A desert lime is round and greenish-yellow, about 1.5 cm (0.6 in) across. The thin peel stays on when you eat it, so a recipe can use the little fruit whole. Its strong lime flavour works in both sweet food and savoury sauces.

Where it comes from

Desert lime comes from the dry inland parts of Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia. It belongs to the Australian bush as well as the orchard. Australian Outback Lime is a named selection of the fruit, chosen at Merbein in Victoria in 1990; its mature trees have no thorns.

How it's eaten where it grows

In Australian cooking, sliced desert limes go into a coconut tart with eggs, cream and desiccated coconut. Desert limes also go into jams, chutneys and drinks.

Nornie Bero cooks periwinkles in a desert lime chilli sauce. Halved limes simmer with ginger, garlic, soy sauce and shrimp paste before the boiled periwinkles are stir-fried in it. The same fruit that sharpens a sweet tart can season a salty seafood dish.

How it's grown

The plant is a small tree, commonly 3–7 m (10–23 ft) tall, suited to harsh inland conditions. Small white flowers appear in spring. Australian Outback Lime loses its thorns as it matures, although young growth can still carry long spines.

On Australian Outback Lime, the crop hangs near the outside of the tree, on branches formed the previous season. Flowering to harvest takes about two to three months, bringing spring’s flowers to fruit in early summer.

When and where you'll find it

Australian Outback Lime usually ripens in December and January at Merbein, Victoria, and around Christmas and New Year in South Australia’s Riverland. Frozen fruit keeps well beyond that summer harvest and can be used like an ordinary lime. Online Australian native-food shops also offer dried forms: Natif’s range includes whole freeze-dried desert lime.