Kaffir lime, a small, lumpy citrus with a tasty Asian tang

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Knobbly green fruits that look as though they have taken a hundred bee stings hang among leathery, deep green leaves: this is kaffir or makrut lime (Citrus hystrix), grown for its intensely fragrant peel and citrus-scented foliage. Barely hardy, it needs a pot brought indoors before frost — then it fruits generously.

Kaffir lime key facts :

Botanical name – Citrus hystrix

– Rutaceae (Rue family)

Breadth – 6 to 10 feet (2 to 3 meters)

Foliage: evergreen  –  Flowering: spring  –  Harvest: Fall

Discover how to plant and care for it, and you’ll be overloaded with fruits that look like a green lime with a hundred bee stings.

Table of Contents: :

• Kaffir lime, an introduction
• Planting
  • Directly in the ground
  • In pots
• Care
• Harvest and keeping
• Uses in cooking

→ Note: Kaffir lime is often confused with bergamot. The bergamot tree is a different citrus variety.

Kaffir lime, an introduction

In many respects, kaffir lime looks a lot like yuzu:

• round but waffled fruit, quite similar to lemon;
• stems that have no thorns;
• oval foliage, deep green and leathery, as is typical of citrus tree.

This fruit tree is native to Asia, more specifically an Indonesian island located east of Bali called Sumbawa. This is why yet another name for this fruit is “Combava” or Kombava.

Planting kaffir lime

The tropical climate of kaffir lime’s region of origin makes growing it a bit difficult: you can’t plant it just anywhere. To grow, it indeed needs a specific environment:

• sun-filled space to produce nice fruits;
• rich and fertile soil;
• soil with a neutral pH, both moist and well-drained.

When and how to plant makrut lime?

Makrut (another name for kaffir lime) isn’t very hardy, so it’s better to plant it in spring. However, if you live in regions where winter is mild, you can also do the planting in fall.

Makrut can only be planted directly in the ground in areas with a tropical climate, or in places where it never freezes over in winter. Worry not! The growth pattern of this fruit tree make it possible to plant it in pots in order to bring it indoors before the first frost hits.

If your location checks all the kaffir lime requirements, most of the work is done already, and you’ve simply got to:

• dig a planting trench that’s 8 inches (20 cm) wide and deep.
• feel free to amend the soil with soil mix or ripe compost.
• If the soil feels “heavy” (clayish), also add some sand or even wood ash to lighten it up.
• Work along the bottom of the hole with a spading fork or a broadfork, this helps mix all your amendments together.
• Pull your makrut lime from its pot and tease a few roots from the root ball, without breaking them.
• Settle the tree in the hole, and backfill it, pressing the soil down as you go. Towards the end, as you’re putting soil back, form a watering bowl to retain water.
• Water abundantly.

Makrut lime in a pot:

The most important for growing kaffir lime in a pot is the container: it must be large enough and also have a drainage hole at the bottom to let water drain away.

As for the potting soil, mix the following: ¼ peat soil, ¼ sand, and ½ soil mix. These ingredients are used in garden stores to prepare citrus potting mix.

Also, you can add perlite (sometimes sold under the name “vermiculite”). This last additive enhances drainage while increasing water availability in the substrate.

Before the planting itself, spread a drainage layer of clay pebbles an inch or so thick (a few centimeters) along the bottom, without clogging the holes. Fill the rest of your container with the potting soil, and settle your makrut lime inside. Around the root ball, add more soil and press it down. The last step is to water once, abundantly.

Smart tip: To keep moisture in the ground, spread natural mulch to reduce water loss through evaporation.

Caring for kaffir lime, makrut lime

Kaffir lime needs particular care in the following:

• In spring and summer, make sure you’re on top of the watering so that the soil stays moist without staying drenched. During the dormant phase (fall, winter), reduce the amount of water you’re providing.
• In case of heavy freezing, protect trees growing outdoors with winterizing fleece.
• Add special citrus fertilizer twice a year:
  • at the beginning of spring, with a fertilizer that contains more phosphorus (P) to increase blooming (and thus fruit set).
  • in fall, better to give your makrut lime tree a fertilizer with a higher potassium content (K), it’ll boost its health before winter.
• For potted makrut lime, schedule a repotting every 4 to 5 years, to renew the substrate and slightly increase the size of the container.
• Add fresh mulch every year.

Note that pruning isn’t necessary, except to remove dead or damaged branches. Do so at the end of fall.

Propagation:

To obtain new makrut lime specimens, either sow its seeds, or prepare softwood cuttings at the end of summer.

Diseases and pests:

Makrut lime is especially vulnerable to parasite insects such as:

• aphids,
• scale insects,
• red spider mites,
• and whitefly.

Even though it isn’t a disease, but a nutrient deficiency, kaffir lime occasionally suffers from chlorosis.

Lastly, make sure to check whether your hardiness zone matches that of this citrus.

Harvest and keeping

Makrut lime fruits ripen around the middle of fall (October, November).

Pick them when they’ve turned a beautiful, deep green color: that’s when they’re most fragrant and tasty.

Leaves are ready for harvest from mid-spring to the end of summer. Don’t remove too many, it would weaken the tree.

Keep the fruits either in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator (for a fortnight) or in the freezer (for several months). Same thing for leaves.

• Snip each fruit off with secateurs, leaving a short stub of stalk, because tugging them free tears the rind and lets rot set in.
• Kaffir limes are normally harvested and used while still green, so fruit that has turned yellow is past its usual picking stage, though its peel can still be aromatic and usable.
• Freeze the leaves whole and use them straight from frozen.
• Take leaves a few at a time from several different branches instead of stripping one shoot bare, so the tree keeps its shape and vigour.

Cooking with Kaffir lime

Makrut is interesting in cooking both for its fruits and for its leaves.

Fruits

Makrut lime only gives very little juice, so what’s mostly used in cooking is its very fragrant peel. Shred a slivers off with a grating tool. It’s ideal to complement gravy, desserts, and even to flavor rhum.

Leaves

Pick them at the latest possible moment to ensure they’re as fresh as can be: their taste is enhanced proportionally.

Slice them into thin slivers and toss a few in your recipes, gravy, or prepare an infusion with them.

They’ll add light citrus-y taste to all your culinary achievements.