Fresh Lime Soda

iqbal

I quaffed large quantities of fresh lime soda all over India. Now back in the states, I am trying to find those delicious, golf-ball sized limes to make my own concoction.

(I think they might be key limes)

Anyone seen Indian limes elsewhere?

Iqbal

wonderwomanusa

Try the Tenderloin, Iqbal; I think they are like the limes the Thai folks use. Or maybe you can find them in Chinatown -- try Mai Wah on Clement St.

And do let me know if you find it. I get tiny Mexican limes in my area and they are not often that sweet.

Tomi

I don't think they are the Thai limes, if you mean keffir limes, wwusa. Those are dark green, slightly bigger, and have very rough, wrinkly skins. The flavor is more bitter and a little camphor-like, like everything Thai.

The limes I had in India (and all the time, like you, Iqbal) were yellowish, small and smooth, very much like key limes if not the same. The Thais use those too, but I don't think of them as distinctly Thai. The Thais, after all, eat everything that grows or moves.

Did you have the sodas with salt or sugar, Iqbal? I liked them both ways, depending on my mood. Yumm.

-m2-

funny you mention the fresh lime sodas as that is a staple of mine in goa as well and I just forget about them when I get home as both limes, and soda, are so expensive here. I guess that's why I took up wine-making as a hobby.

ikimasho

in japan they are called sudachi - try an asian supermarket

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iqbal

I'll check the Thai grocer. However, Tomi's description is spot on. I don't think Indian limes are Key Limes. Continue reading for the pseudo-scientific methodology supporting my hypothesis.

Looks like sudachi is Japanese for key lime. See link below for picture of sudachi(s). I will check this out next time I am in Japan Town.

Here's the latest Lime Soda news:

My wife brought home a bottle of Safeway Key Lime Soda last week hoping to quench my thirst. Sorry, Safeway it's too sweet and frankly I don't think the Indian limes are key limes.

The 'produce gal' at the grocer was interested enough in my story that she ordered a case of key limes so we could mix our own batch and put this to bed once and for all.

The key limes ordered are green with yellow patches and are the same size as the Indian limes. In soda they taste very similar, but more acidic than what I had in India. This may be a regional difference. I am convinced the Indian lime is a third type of lime and will continue the search.

Cheers.

Picture of sudachi here.

julieellen

fresh lime sodas were my absolute favorite in mumbai. drank them at every meal. they helped settle my stomach too. i ordered mine with the sweet on the side and added what i liked.
i missed them so much when i left.

bijapuri

on the historical side, did the RaJ introduce FLS to India, or the other way around? Somehow I always associate them with that era.

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Tomi

The origin of limes seems to be India, bij. Oranges are China/S.E.Asia. Europeans only had Seville (bitter) oranges, and Indians had none. Grapefruits are American. None of the citrus fruit seems to originate from the western neighbors of India.

http://www.up.ac.za/academic/fabi/citrus/global.html

I am fond of the list of things that came from the Americas: avocado, vanilla, corn (maize), potato, chocolate, tomato, and peppers of all kinds, including hot chilies. The fact that India and Europe did not have some of the major staples in their cuisine before the European discovery of America is quite surprising. Italy without tomatoes, Ireland without potatoes, Belgium without chocolate, India without capsicum. That tomato (and vindaloo) came into Goa first by way of the Portuguese is quite likely.

sgeneris

Vindaloo is corruption of Vina-de-Alio or something similar in Portuguese. Where Vina(sp?) is the vinegar and Alio is the oil. Of course I doubt if the original portuguese concoction is anything close to the Vindaloo flavor as we know it!

Tomi

Yes, sgeneris, I always heard that, from Portuguese to Konkani, but with a different connection:

"aloo" coming from "alho", meaning garlic, instead of "oleo" meaning oil in a general sense. In Portuguese nowadays they say "azeite" for cooking oil and "oleo" for crude oil, etc.
"vind" coming from the contraction of "vinho de", meaning "wine of" or "liquor of".

So it's garlic juice, no chilies, no tomatoes.
Whether vindaloo requires tomatoes or not, I've read both in serious cookbooks. But that kind of debate you hear about every dish from every country. Do you put garlic and lemon or lime in your guacamole? Most everybody would say yes, but the authenticity snobs and most Mexicans say no. Mexicans do lime with everything else, though, like beer, fruit, soup, etc. yummmmm

Go lime.