Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Australian Citrus Types and the Most Unique One

There are six types of citrus that can be found in Australia. Five of them are quite common and can be seen in other countries of the world. The sixth type is unique and was discovered as a bush tucker by the first settlers. They kept it from devastation when cleared their lands for agricultural needs and it lived up to the present. Now it is very popular and is becoming more and more demanded with the growing interest to its specific features. Native to rainforests of the eastern part of Australia, it was then transported to the USA. After long years of trying, they managed to make it grow in the normal way. In their homeland, finger lime trees are the understorey plant that can get up to 20ft high but is mostly bush-like. These thorny trees bear small fruits that are like fingers in their length and width.

Multi-Colored Cucumbers

Finger limes usually tend to look like small cucumbers. In the majority of cases their peel has the same lime-green color that is characteristic for common limes. Yet, the color palette available for these limes is quite large. It can be yellow and black, but it is normal and does not influence the taste of these fruits. It is lime-like with a bit of lemon and other specific notes. In the wild, these fruits can have different shapes, colors, sizes and number of seeds inside. Cultivated species can have no seeds at all, while wild ones can have a lot of them.

Citrus Caviar

Inside this kind of fruit there are specific juice bulbs that are not oblong as those of oranges or common lemons. These ones are round, quite tight and crumbly as caviar grains. They have fresh and tasty juice. When the fruit is opened, they can burst out. This caviar needs to be squeezed from some of them. This pulp can also have different colors, but the taste is always rather similar.

Finger Limes on the Web

Finger limes are the object of great interest in many countries. They are popular in food industry: many restaurants use them to prepare their dishes. There is a lot of information on the web that can be found on websites like www.gourmetlimes.com.au. It is also possible to find the resources that can give information on how to raise these limes in orchards or even in pots at home. The same resources often offer the lime saplings or seeds that can be planted.