Lime. It’s the summer’s hottest color. Why not make it a hot ingredient in the kitchen, too?
Limes make seafood and chicken dishes taste lighter; salsas and desserts, zingier. They also add vitamin C and are pretty to look at.
“I use limes for everything,” said Tamlyn Willard, 27, owner of Sublime Pies & Cakes in Charleston, S.C. “It’s fresh and it’s clean and it’s not heavy.”
Willard knows a lot about limes. Her Key lime pie and Key lime cheesecake just won blue ribbons in two divisions of the American Pie Council’s National Pie Championship. (Sorry, she can’t share those recipes.)
Limes in the Willard kitchen do everything from tarting up fish to adding a layer of flavor to chocolate-chip cookies. Limes help with Willard’s cleanup, too.
Willard, a self-taught baker, first became familiar with limes while living in Florida. She cooks with both Persian and Key limes but favors the smaller, Key lime because of its tangy sweetness.
Persian limes are the larger, thicker-skinned limes you see most often in the grocery. They are more tart than Key limes.
Willard uses the zest or the juice of limes in salad dressings, salsas, with seafood and in a breakfast granola.
Lime wedges will stay fresh for about five days. Whole limes will keep in the refrigerator for 10 days; afterward their flavor wanes. Using limes that are as fresh as possible is best, and that should be easy right now because their peak season is between May and August.
There are a couple of things to know when cooking with limes. Willard warns that “lime really messes with leavening.”
Because of this, she usually uses baking powder and baking soda when baking with limes. Limes, especially Key limes, also are stickier than lemons. And because of their acidity, limes in marinades can easily cook fish before you ever turn on the grill. She recommends marinating no longer than 20 minutes when using a marinade that contains lime.
Willard likes to add lime zest to butter or sour cream; a simple syrup of sugar, water and key lime juice makes a scrumptious topping for her pound cakes.
“It’s yummy,” she said.
Willard cleans her cutting boards with a wedge of lime. The fruit’s acidity helps remove the flavors of other foods.
Willard also has been known to decorate with limes. Fill a large bowl with the bright green fruit or cut the fruit in half, hollow out each half and fill with tea candles. Your summer table will twinkle and smell as fresh as a lime, too.
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