A New 'Malaysian' Garden
Kaffir Lime… What to
do with the fruit?
The Kaffir Lime (Limau
Purut) is an excellent plant for a kitchen garden, with its wonderfully
fragrant leaves an important ingredient in many dishes of Southeast Asian
origin. For the past few years, we have wondered how to use the green, knobbly fruit.
At times, we have used the zest, and at other times, we have tried slices of
the aromatic fruit in black tea. Because of the astringency of the limes, the
latter is a real challenge, unless sweetened.
Our limau tree has
produced just a handful of fruit over the past two years, so finding a use for
the fruit has not been pressing. This year, however, we have more than twenty
fruit to deal with. Best not to waste them.
So, what to do with an excess of the fruit?
Reading the ‘net was productive. We found that the fruit
could be a useful shampoo, as well as distilled into an essential oil, among
other applications. In the end, though, we stumbled upon recipes for cordials
for other species of lime. Finding a likely recipe, we modified it for our
bitter kaffir limes.
As a first attempt at making kaffir lime cordial, with a
touch of ginger, we could not be happier: a refreshing cool and fragrant drink
was created. The cordial is very strong, so should be used sparingly (to taste)
…
Below is the recipe which we used…
Kaffir Lime Cordial
Ingredients
- 12 kaffir limes, juiced and retained
- 3 cups sugar
- 2 or 3 slices ginger
- 1 ½ tsp citric acid
- 1 Ltr water
Method
1.
Squeeze and strain the lime juice… This will
make about one cup or a little more of strained juice. Set aside.
2.
Boil one litre of water.
3.
Dissolve the sugar in the boiled water.
4.
Add ginger slices and kaffir lime skins to the
boiled water
5.
Add citric acid.
6.
Allow the mixture to cool, then add the lime
juice.
7.
Refrigerate overnight, before bottling in
sterilised bottles.
8.
Keep your cordial refrigerated.
Wishing you hours of enjoyment and contentment in your
garden…
