Quenepas, Genips, Mamoncillos - AKA Spanish Limes

by Nick Vagnoni, Posted Apr 13th 2006 @ 3:35PM

Growing up, I always knew this fruit as a Spanish lime. Then, a Jamaican friend came over and started calling them genips. A few years later, a Puerto Rican friend told me they were also called quenepas. Since then, I've also heard that they're called mamoncillos in other parts of the Caribbean. In Panama, I think they're called mamones. Wikipedia has a page with still more names.

Despite what I still call them, they're not limes at all. Actually, they're in the same family as lychees, which makes sense considering their similarly leathery skin. Beneath this green skin is a large seed coated in a slimy, peach colored flesh, which actually tastes a bit like a lime. If you happen to see them in a market, be sure to get fruit with unwrinkled, uncracked skin. The most common way of eating them is to remove the skin and suck the pulp from the seed. However, I've also heard of soaking the peeled fruit in rum and sugar to make a drink.

[Photo: Nick Vagnoni]

Filed Under: Garden Party, Ingredients
Tags: carribean, fruit, garden party, genips, mamoncillos, mamones, quenepas, spanish limes, SpanishLimes, tropical fruit

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Reader comments (Page 2 of 2)

8-17-2011 @1:32PM Tita said... ... I have heard people say "quenapas are illegal in the U.S." ... is that true??? Does anyone know why? .. I use to eat these when I was a kid here in the U.S. back in the 80's ... found them in a little store here in the U.S. recently and bought some. Had NOOOO idea that its illegal. Weird.
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6-18-2007 @1:40PM Ivelisse Velazquez said... hello i live in Miwaukee Wisconsin and I happened to go to a mexican grocery store and they had 2 lb of quenepas for a $1.49 and i went nut and bought some had everybody in my office try them hahahaha, i used to live en Peñuelas y naci en Ponce so me crie comiendo quenepas i love them, nadie sabia que era eso hazta los mexicanos de aqui.Y wisconsin es al lado de chicago por si no sabian. jajajaja
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7-03-2007 @3:35PM maria said... I have searched all over South Carolina. I finally did find them in an oriental store on Decker Boulevard Columbia, SC
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8-19-2010 @6:01PM nina said... please tell me where on decker blvd what oriental store i can buy quenepas

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7-03-2007 @3:45PM Grant Catton said... You can buy genips on the streets in New York City in the summer. That's where I was introduced to them. I thought they were Key Limes, then opened one up and was kind of surprised. I love them and eat them by the pound in summer time.
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7-15-2007 @10:30PM Mike R. said... It's been years since I've had any, but after a looooong wait, I finally found some. I'm eatin some right now, lol!!! Today was a good day!!!!!
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7-17-2007 @1:59PM LC Rojas said... I grew up in Key West and Mr. Leonard Curry had the sweetest Key Limes on Ashe & Petronia sts. The twin limes were the sweetest. Publix stores sells them here in South Carolina. Lionel Rojas
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7-31-2007 @3:29PM arleen barker said... http://www.bongosmania.com/servlet/StoreFront

This website is selling quenepas! They are available only till the end of August so hurry if you want to purchase any.
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7-31-2007 @11:09PM eva santamaria said... i love this fruit...itz the bomb
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8-08-2007 @5:59PM shayna said... My little sister, my fiance and I are eating them right now, we are of puerto rican decent, so we called them quenepas...however my fiance is dominican and he calls them limoncillos..lol whatever they are called...muy delicioso :)
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9-05-2007 @12:09PM MiMonaNina said... Does anyone know where I can get Mamones (that's what they're called in Nicaragua) in Chicago? I haven't had any since I was a kid in Nica and I would LOVE to get some! Please help me!
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9-07-2007 @3:22PM Maria said... I've been looking everywhere in Maryland for them all week. I went to an international store and they had no idea what I was talking about .... sigh!
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9-28-2007 @3:38PM Andrew said... Does anyone know where I can find these in Utah? I've been looking all my life for them, since I ate them in Venezuela when I was 6. Please help! Thanks!
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10-31-2007 @3:40PM rdc said... I live in aruba.. here we call it quenepas and you can find it here everywhere!!! yummyy
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12-02-2007 @2:38PM janae said... LMAO at the #2 post.
I used to get spanish limes in Key West when I used
to live there. Our neighbor had a spanish lime tree,
he was an elderly man. But he allowed me and my dad
to pick them off his tree and put them in a shoe box.
=D But he had to cut it down because it was going to over take his brick wall and crush it. And another neighbor around the corner had a humongous spanish lime tree, but the only way to get them would be off the ground since it was so tall.

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12-10-2007 @11:52PM Athena Smith said... My mother is from the Bahamas, and I remember the kids selling them on the streets in the 60's and 70's, when I was a kid. I love these things! Never saw them for sale in Miami, though, where I grew up. I've had lychees recently though, and they reminded me of caneps (that's Bahamian sp/pron.)so much, that I had to look them up and see if they're related - it seems that they are! Very cool...will have to check the Mexican grocery stores here next summer (I now live in Portland, OR) to see if any have them. Thanx for everybody's input...

Athena
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