FOOD RESOURCE COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SCIENCES, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
KAFFIR LIME, CITRYS HYSTRIX
Excerpts from Passmore, Jacki. 1991. The Encyclopedia of Asian Food and Cooking. Hearst Books, New York.
A type of lime grown in Southeast Asia. The fruit has a textured, knobbly, mid-green skin and is the size of a large lime. Although kaffir lime juice is used in cooking, it is the leaves that are the most important ingredient. Fresh or dried, they are used in soups, curries and as a condiment. Added, like bay leaves, to a gravy, sauce or soup, they slowly release flavor during cooking, and are particularly good with fish. In former times in Singapore the leaves were used when washing the hair to give it fragrance; in Thailand it was believed that this fragrance would ward off evil spirits. The juice is also used medicinally. Also known as shauk-nu, shauk-waing (Burma); krauch soeuch (Cambodia); jeruk perut (Indonesia); daun limau purut (Malaysia, Singapore); bai makrut, makrut(Thailand).
Hyman, Gwenda L. 1993. Cuisines of Southeast Asia. A Culinary Journey Through Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. John Wiley & Sones. New York. [Available Valley Library: TX724.5.S68 H96 1993]
is larger, and the skin more pitted and lumpy, than the skin of regular limes. The tart juice is used in dishes both savory and sweet, and the zest is grated into curry pastes. Kaffir lime leaves, msall, round, and glossy, are thinly slivered and added to soups, curries, and many other savory dishes.
Grimes, William. 2004. Eating Your Worlds. Oxford University Press.
is a citrus tree of southeast Asia with green fruit and aromatic leaves that are used in Thai and Indonesian cooking.
This resource is much more than a dictionary or encyclopedia. If you wish to know more about cuisines and associated recipes from individual countries, this would be an excellent resource.
