Kaffir lime: another extravagance.

Our friend Ben and Silence Dogood don’t get many gift certificates, probably because it takes us so long to decide what to buy with them. But our friend Ben’s brother has been very good about continuing to bear with us and give us gift certificates to White Flower Farm every year.

This, of course, presents us with too many choices: Should we buy more bulbs in the fall? Amaryllis at Christmas? Perennials in spring? Or maybe take advantage of White Flower Farm’s selection of edible plants?

Fall and winter had passed, and spring is hurtling towards summer as temperatures rise into the high 80s in early April (and people say there’s no such thing as global warming?!), and still we hadn’t made up our minds. Until about a minute ago when we received an e-mail from White Flower Farm listing its top 10 edible plants.

Scanning the selections, we saw plenty of tempting choices, with a Key lime heading the list. Until, that is, Silence saw a plant WFF called a “lime leaf.” Neither of us had ever heard of a lime leaf, but it sounded intriguing, so we checked it out. Turns out, it’s Kaffir lime, Citrus hystrix, and its leaves are an essential ingredient in Thai, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and Malaysian cuisine. (They’re used like bay leaves, long-cooked in a dish, then removed before serving.)

“Ben! They have Kaffir lime! I’ve always wanted a Kaffir lime!”

Thoughts of luscious Key lime pies and margaritas receded as our friend Ben bowed to the inevitable. The call was made, and the plant will be heading our way later this month. I’ll just have to console myself with thoughts of all the yummy Thai and etc. food Silence will soon be making us. (But, ahem, if we’re lucky enough to get another gift certificate this year, it’s earmarked for the Key lime.)

What is a Kaffir lime? As you can see from the botanical name, it is indeed in the citrus family, though unlike all other citrus, its fresh leaves rather than its fruits are its main claims to fame, lending a distinctive citrusy flavor and fragrance to dishes. It does of course produce fruits, and the WFF website informs us that the fruits’ knobby rinds are zested and used to flavor curries and soups, giving them the same flavor as the leaves. (The pulp and juice is not used, though they didn’t say why.)

In USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 10 and 11, you can plant Kaffir limes in the ground and they’ll reach about 6 feet. Farther north, you’ll need to grow them in containers. You’re still looking at a 4- to 5-foot tree, though, so you’ll need to think about ultimately providing a big container. And they like plenty of sun, outdoors in the summer and in a greenhouse or sunroom in winter.

We live in Zone 6, but we happen to have a greenhouse and routinely bring our plants out to the deck for the summer, so we thought we could manage. (After all, we’re already growing figs, a lemon, a regular lime, a banana, and an olive tree in containers; what’s one more big fruit-bearing plant?)

In case you’re intrigued and/or have access to Kaffir lime leaves, we found a wonderfully helpful review on the WFF site from someone who identified herself simply as A Bluestocking and now lives, as we do, in scenic PA. Since she was willing to post her comments publicly, we think she’d be willing for us to share some of them here. And thanks, A Bluestocking, what marvelous ideas!

“Once you have had Thai food made with these leaves… you never want to go back! My favorite, and oh so easy soup, is to take a can of cream of tomato soup, a small can of coconut milk [I’m assuming this is unsweetened coconut milk—Silence] and heat with bruised Keffir [sic] lime leaves… Much brighter flavor than the more commonly used lemon grass. Thai Kitchen makes curry pastes (I’m partial to the green) which simmered with coconut milk and steeped with [Kaffir lime] leaves makes an outrageous sauce over mixed steamed veggies, grilled chicken or shrimp on a bed of basmati rice!”

A Bluestocking adds this final caution: “It’s not a particularly attractive plant with its irregular growth pattern and large spikes… but a must for gourmands.” And, Silence thinks, for us as well.

Would we really have rushed out to plunk down money on something as tangential as a Kaffir lime tree? Of course not. But, in our view, that’s the whole point of gift certificates: They let you splurge on something you wouldn’t otherwise allow yourself. (A Christmas gift is also how we acquired our olive and banana trees.) And that’s the best gift of all.