FRUITS OF BRAZIL - Other Limes

During the past few days, Flavors of Brazil has been posting articles about those members of the large lemon/lime branch of the citrus fruit family that are present in Brazilian cooking and that can be found in Brazilian food stores.

To wrap up this line-up of limes (for in Portuguese, these are all limes - limão) here are a couple of less common members of the family. Although these fruits can generally be found in produce stores and sometimes in farmers markets, at least here in Fortaleza, Flavor of Brazil's home, they are considered exotic in Brazil, are generally more expensive and there are fewer recipes in Brazilian cookbooks that call for them. But their flavor, acidity and aroma characteristics makes them useful and can add a familiar-but-unkown note to dishes in which they're used. They're worth getting to know, whether you spot them in Brazil, or in some Asian or Latin American market elsewhere in the world.
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Rangpur or Mandarin Lime (limão cravo in Portuguese) - This sharply acidic hybrid cross between limes and mandarins was the subject of a post in this blog back in May of 2011. Click here to read about it.

Palestine Sweet Lime (lima-da-pérsia in Portuguese) - Looking a bit like an oversized, yellow lime, the Palestine sweet lime is the Clark Kent of the lime family - the mild-mannered, self-effacing lime that lacks the punch of most of its cousin limes. The primary difference between this fruit (Citrus × limettioides) and the other limes is its very low acidity, which can be as low as 0.1% citric acid. It can be found in specialty produce stores in Brazil and grows very well in most areas of the country. In other areas of the world, particularly in Asia and the Middle East, it's used to make a refreshing fruit drink, one that doesn't need a lot of added sugar to counteract the acidity. Even though it has less citric acid than most limes, it still has high levels of vitamin C. Because other limes are so assertive, the Palestine sweet lime is sometimes accused of being bland or insipid. It's really not so, it's just that in all sorts of ways it's more subtle than garden variety limes or lemons. It can be used to make a low-acid caipirinha for those who are bothered by high-acid drinks. It's thin skin can also be candied or preserved to make a delightful sweet.

FRUITS OF BRAZIL - Lemon (Limão Siciliano)

Although the bright yellow citrus fruit called lemon (Citrus limon) is, along with the lime, the closest we have to the original wild citrus fruit that was domesticated in South Asia in prehistoric times, lemons in Brazil are still something of a novelty. Up until fairly recently, they were virtually unseen in Brazilian markets and supermarkets where the lime reigned supreme.

Brazilians call the lemon limão siciliano which literally means Sicilian lime. There is no single word in Portuguese to distinguish lemons from limes, and for Brazilians, lemons are not a fruit distinct from the lime - they are a lime that happens to be yellow, have a different shape, aroma and taste, but nonetheless they are still limes.

As recently as three or four years ago in Fortaleza, Flavors of Brazil's home base, it was impossible to find a lemon anywhere. For us, as Canadians used to having the option to chose lemons or limes, it was difficult indeed to be restricted only to limes in cooking and in drinks. As much as we love limes, and we love them a lot, there are times and places that call for lemon, not lime. Iced tea is one - it's just not the same without a thick wedge of lemon. Not that Brazilians drink iced tea; they don't. So Brazilians didn't miss that wedge in a frosty glass of iced tea. Lemon curd is another personal favorite, one that's surprisingly easy to make at home - that is, if there are lemons available. There weren't so no homemade lemon curd.

However, recently, lemons have been showing up on supermarket shelves with increasing regularity everywhere in Brazil. We first spotted them in gourmet delis and shops where they sold for astronomical prices (which we paid due to our homesickness for lemons). Then they started showing up in standard supermarkets, still expensive but not ridiculously so. And this year prices have actually started to come down, which probably indicates a larger commercial crop has finally reached the market.

The increasing presence of lemons in Brazil is probably due to the increased sophistication and increased buying power of Brazilian consumers. Recent years have been very kind to the Brazilian economy, and enormous numbers of Brazilians are making their first trips outside of South America - principally to the USA and Europe, where lemons are easily found. Perhaps this created a demand that hadn't previously existed, resulting in astute ranchers and farmers planting lemon groves and eventually lemons in supermarkets around the country.

As there is no tradition of cooking with lemons in Brazil, dishes that feature the flavor of lemon are most easily found in contemporary, upmarket restaurants in Brazil's larger cities, and recipes are found in food and wine magazines. There are signs, though, that lemon's distinctive flavor is catching on in Brazil. Our local ice cream shop, which makes their own ice cream from natural flavors, recently added  limão siciliano to their list of flavors. We also spotted a limão siciliano mousse on a local restaurant's dessert menu. But the surest sign of all of the surging popularity of the lemon was in a neighborhood bar. They've started to offer a caipirinha de limão siciliano, substituting chunks of lemon for the limes in the  original recipe. It's not-surprisingly delicious!

We're all for traditional, local foods and ingredients, but the arrival of lemons on our culinary horizon is very welcome news. Now if we could just figure out how to get Brazilians interested in celery!

FRUITS OF BRAZIL - Limes (Limões)

The citrus fruit that is most important in Brazilian cooking and gastronomy is, by far, that small, round, sharply-acidic green ball called a lime (limão in Portuguese, limões in the plural). Oranges might outweigh limes when it comes to export statistics, and there's no question that Brazilians drink a lot of orange juice, most of it unfortunately highly-sugared. But if you look in Brazilian cookbook indexes  recipes that call for limes vastly outnumber those that call for other citrus fruits.

Interestingly, botanists tell us that limes (including lemons) are the closest living relatives to the wild fruit trees of sub-Himalayan and Southeast Asia and were the first citrus fruits domesticated and cultivated by mankind. Even such important citrus fruits as oranges, tangerines and grapefruits are either natural or cultivated hydrids of the original lime-like citrus and came into cultivation much later.

Citrus fruits made their first appearance in the West in the hands of Muslim traders sometime between the 7th and the 9th centuries. There is some evidence that Romans were aware of limes and used them medicinally, but there was never a commercial citrus crop in Europe during Roman times. In any case, citrus cultivation and consupmtion was firmly established in the Mediterranean basin by the beginning of the second millennium CE.

From Europe, citrus fruits made their way to American shores in the holds of ships carrying the first European explorers and colonists in the decades following Columbus and other early explorers. Limes took very well to Brazilian soil and climatic conditions - they can successfully be cultivated in most of Brazil. From its earliest days, Brazilian cuisine made use of the fruit - particularly the juice, which adds a fresh, acidic note to any dish containing it. Although they had no knowledge of why it worked, sailors discovered that drinking lime juice daily prevented the onset of scurvy and limes were carried on all long sea voyages. The British Navy mandated a daily drink of lime juice, thoughtfully mixed with rum, which is the origin of the nickname of British sailors - limeys.

On land as on well as at sea, cooks discovered the many ways in which limes could be employed in the kitchen. Lime juice is essential in many traditional Brazilian sweets and dessert, as well as in cold drinks. It's also used in conjunction with fish and seafood dishes. There's a particular affinity between limes and foods from the sea, although traditional cooks in Brazil seem not to have discovered the "cooking" effect that lime juice has on seafood - the effect which is the basis for Peruvian and Mexican ceviche.

Today in Brazil, there are two main varieties of limes sold commercially, and in most markets and supermarkets you'll always find both. In Brazilian Portuguese they are called limão Tahiti and limão Galego. Although they are similar in color, size and taste, one is very close to the original citrus fruit of prehistoric Asia and one is a hybrid of fairly recent origin.

Limão Galego (Citrus aurantifolia) is the oldster, the ur-lime. In English it's known as the Key lime, due to its association with the Florida Keys. Its color is a light green, often edging toward yellow. It is smaller, seedier, has a higher acidity, a stronger aroma, and a thinner peel than the limão Tahiti and is the lime of choice when making Brazil's famed caipirinha cocktail. It is very juicy. In Brazil is it grown commercially mostly in the northeast and center-west regions of the country and it bears fruit throughout the year, having no distinctive season. Up until recently, it was the most common lime in Brazil, though in recent years, it's given way to the limão Tahiti.

Left Limão Tahiti - Right Limão Galego

Limão Tahiti (Citrus latiifolia) is the upstart hybrid in the family of Brazilian limes. In English it's called the Persian lime and it's the garden-variety lime of supermarkets throughout North America and Europe. Its color is vivid strong green. It is less acidic than the limão Galego, has a thicker peel which can be nubbly, is slightly larger in most cases, and being a hybrid it is seedless, or virtually so. It is a very robust species. Today it is the most valuable member of the lime family in the export market, due to its seedlessness, its thicker peel which makes it less fragile, and its aroma which is considered exotic in northern climates. Like its ancestor, the limão Galego, it bears fruit all year.

In Brazil these two varieties alone are considered lime limes - that is, when a recipe calls for lime, unmodified, it means that either of these two may be used. If another member of the family is required, it will be indicated by a modifying name. These two are also what the English-speaking world thinks of as limes. There are other members of this family, though, and in upcoming posts, we'll discuss them as well as provide some Brazilian recipes which use this marvelous fruit.