Australian Native Finger Limes

Australian Native Finger Limes are a sensorial delight. Their pulp consists of tiny roe-like bubbles that pop in a lime explosion; the caviar of the citrus world. Their pulp ranges in colour from green, to pink, and right through to a deep magenta. Their skins, too, vary in shade, from green, yellow, red, purple and, on some species, even black. The high oil content in the rind gives the fruit a glossy appearance and a wonderful rich flavour.

They also have nasty spikes, which make them a useful hedge plant to keep out fruit-eating animals.

Australian Native Lime Family History

The larger family of Australian native limes (Citrus Australasica) were found and described by colonial botanists, who recognized their potential for cultivation as early as 1899, with F.M. Bailey advising that native citrus was ‚”well worthy of cultivation for its fruit, which is juicy and of equal flavour with the West Indian lime.”

The finger lime, Microcitrus Australasica, is unique for its long slender fruits. In The Botany of Citrus, Swingle labels the Microcitrus family a ‚”primitive genus” suggesting some of its species are very close to their ancestral citrus tree (a primitive type of orange). Swingle predicted: “their ancient and deeply inbred adaptations to special climatic and soil conditions, will prove important in breeding new types of citrus fruits and new rootstocks able to resist disease and able to endure unfavourable climatic and soil conditions that no Citrus species can withstand”

The finger lime has indeed proved valuable for producing tough commercial hybrids able to thrive through drought and increasing salinity in Australia. Serious commercial production of finger limes only really began in the 1990s.

Cultivating Finger Limes

In its natural habitat, the wet sclerophyll forests and sub-tropical rainforests of northern New South Wales and south-eastern Queensland (although most naturally occurring trees have been destroyed through clearing and farming), the finger lime grows as a small understorey tree between three and five metres. It has sparse leaves and grows slowly, bearing fruit only after many years. When grafted to a suitable rootstock, however, finger limes will fruit within two to three years. There are dwarf varieties now, too, suitable for a terrace pot or tub.

Eating and Cooking With Finger Limes

Finger limes are a little fiddly to prepare, and the globules tend to stick to your fingers. The best way is to cut them in half lengthwise and then, with a sharp knife, slit open the pithy membrane that separates the sections; you should then be able to squeeze out most of the pulp into a bowl.

Finger limes elevate the gin and tonic to five-star cocktail level; sliced crosswise, the limes form little wagon wheels that bob in your glass, releasing their squirty bubbles. Half a tea-spoon of pulp on fresh oysters with a little cracked pepper is also fantastic.

You can preserve finger limes as you would lemons or limes; their thin skins and concentrated flavour are far superior to standard limes. Any citrus-based dessert works well substituting in finger limes.

Fresh from the orchard is always best, of course, but finger lime pulp can also be frozen and thawed without any loss of texture and flavour to use at another time.