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Desert lime
Citrus glauca · Citrus
40 pairings
The desert lime (Citrus glauca) is a small, hardy Australian native citrus from the dry inland, bearing round to oval green-to-yellow fruit only about 1 to 2 cm across. Intensely tart and aromatic, with a clean, concentrated lime flavour, it is one of Australia's flagship bushfoods, prized fresh, frozen and as a marmalade, sauce and cordial fruit.
Shop firmThe all-rounder: dressings, sauces, cordial, marmalade.Everyday best
SkinStill tight, the shine going matte
In the fingersFirm, gives a shade under the thumb
Stem endPedicel gone, scar dry and pale
Scratched peelFragrant when rubbed, the edge softer
What to look for, from tight, springy, oil-slick to shrivelled, soft, scent gone.
Keeping ittap a band
Nothing has been measured on this fruit; the finger lime, the nearest studied native citrus, is held at 8 to 10 C and pits brown at 4, so a cool larder beats the crisper drawer.
Humidity
90-95%
A fruit 1 to 1.5 cm across under a rind less than a millimetre thick: in dry air it goes light and wrinkled within days.
Airflow
Vented, not sealed
A vented punnet or a slit bag, never sealed - packed damp and tight, one weeping fruit runs green mould through the whole handful.
Makes none; the green peel is the risk
Non-climacteric like all citrus: it makes almost none itself. Nobody has tested it the other way, but lime and calamansi both lose their green beside apples and bananas.