"lime" news and stories

Your meal is almost finished, and you're wondering what last minute ingredients you can add to give it that extra special flavor. Citrus juice, particularly from lemons and limes, goes a long way in many dishes.

So do you believe we're in a recession? Retailers sure seem to, especially specialty retailers. In the kitchenware store, the season's usual large bundles of roasting pans and pie plates, while still available, are being supplemented by smaller displays of beckoning trinkets for inexpensive shopping fixes. If one is a classic movie fan, one remembers Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard in Breakfast at Tiffanys -- wherein, broke but shopping, they consider a platinum dream from a CrackerJack box as well as a silver telephone dialer. More practical (and, at around thirteen bucks, more economical) is the Microplane Multi-Citrus Tool, and I have to admit that I have succumbed.

As most slashfoodies know, zest is the outer skin of a citrus fruit, used as a flavoring agent in everything from sauces to baked goods, as well as a garnish. The zest contains a high concentration of the oil of the citrus fruit, which contributes a highly concentrated burst of both flavor and aroma. As experienced eaters know, there is no substitute for fresh zest -- a lemon pound cake, for example, will simply taste better if you add fresh zest. As experienced zesters know, the challenge while zesting is to get just that outer layer of skin without getting any of the white pith that separates the flesh of the fruit from the skin.

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Going nationwide last July, Miller Chill quickly became ubiquitous at stores. This summer, Anheuser-Busch tried targeting the flourishing lime-flavored beer market as well, launching Bud Light Lime in April with $35 million in advertising. Since then, the macro-brew's been bragging about its success crediting the roll-out for an increase in 2nd quarter profits and summer market share.

Enough jabber-jargon... Do I want to drink it??

Personally, my taste buds sour at the mere thought of giving a Bud Light spin-off the full taster's treatment, but just for kicks, let's do BLL proper!

BLL's packaging alerts me it's a "premium light beer with 100% natural lime flavor." Also prominently displayed: "contains alcohol." Sold. After cleansing my palate of a Fudgsicle (hey, it's hot out!), I pour a small amount of BLL into a taster glass. The nose is very typical of Bud Light (subtle malt, ricey) and shows distinct notes of -- ta da! -- lime.

The flavor does not offend as much as I had expected.

It sits alone and untouched at the end of a long buffet table -- a bowl full of apples and bananas, maybe a seedy orange tossed in as an afterthought. Don't let your fruit salad meet this awful fate, spruce it up instead!

I saw a recipe in my Williams-Sonoma Entertaining Cookbook for a Blended Mojito and thought it would be a fantastic way to say "Hasta luego!" to the summer (or "Bienvenidos!" to an Indian Summer). Blended with ice, it works as a refresher. However, it's a mojito.

For as long as I could, I tried to stay away from the mojito craze that swept bars and cocktail parties across the country for the last few years. Part of the reason is that I consider myself "allergic" to anything too trendy, and if you weren't drinking a mojito, who are you? Well, you should all know by now that mojitos are soooo 2006. In fact, if you're caught drinking a mojito, you'll be ridiculed for having been living under an overturned martini glass for the last two years. With the popularity of mojitos gone, I am now starting to enjoy the drink.