Food Trend Prediction: Finger Limes

We'd never heard of finger limes before a few months ago, but now we're seeing them pop up all over the place. Which seems appropriate since they're also known as "citrus pop rocks"!

The pulp inside these skinny citrus fruits is made of hundreds of tiny balls of juice, edible bubbles that literally burst between your teeth. How cool is that?

Also called citrus caviar, finger limes are native to the rainforest regions of Australia. They grow to be a few inches long and an inch or so in diameter, and come in every shade of red, pink, yellow, and green. As of right now, only a few growers in the US are cultivating and selling finger limes. The rest are imported from Australia.

We hear that finger lime juice tastes like a cross between a lemon and a lime, and is tart enough on its own to make your lips pucker. Chefs have been using a scoop here and there as an accent to dishes. We can just imagine munching away on a salad or plate of poached fish when suddenly - POW! - getting hit with a surprising burst of citrus flavor.

We can't wait to get our hands on a few of these fruits! We might have to wait awhile because it's still pretty rare to find finger limes in a public market. But if our food trend prediction turns out to be true, hopefully they'll start being easier to find.

Have you ever tasted finger limes?

More on Finger Limes:
Interview with Finger Lime Grower James Shanley on KCRW Good Food
Finger Lime: The Caviar of Citrus by David Karp in the LA Times
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Related: Seasonal Spotlight: Buddha's Hand

(Image: KCRW Good Food)