Is the Lime an Endangered Species?
WE’RE used to the elusiveness of certain scarce and seasonal gastronomical treasures like black truffles that are priced and meted out accordingly. But no one could have predicted the strange twist that threatens to turn guacamole, Key lime pie and margaritas into rare delicacies.
A sudden and unprecedented shortage of limes has sent nationwide wholesale prices soaring from around $25 for a 40-pound carton in early February to more than $100 today, panicking lovers of Mexican food and drinks — and the restaurant and bar owners who cater to them. The culprits are weather, disease and even Mexican criminals.
“I cringe every time customers ask for limes,” said Armando De La Torre Jr., an owner of two Guisados restaurants in Los Angeles, adding that the price spike cost his family at least $2,000 in the past month alone.
“We really don’t have much choice except to pay up,” said Phil Ward, owner of Mayahuel, a Manhattan bar that specializes in tequila and mescal. “A margarita has to be made with lime juice. We would never use lemons, or bottled lime juice, which is pasteurized and has a different flavor.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/30/opinion/sunday/is-the-lime-an-endangered-species.html?hp&rref=opinion&_r=0
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They are available everywhere and by the bushels. They prefer the small limes and no one seems to have any interest in the big ones at all.
Not sure where you get the information that there is some kind of shortage, because there just isn't.
And if you ever suggested using a concentrated substitute, they would have no idea what you were talking about.
They are everywhere and people buy them by the kilos.
They tend to use the small ones - they have thinner skins and are sweeter.
I think that the larger ones are exported because that's what Americans have come to expect, but the small ones are really better, imo.
And one MUST have one of these.
Anyway, I don't know what to tell you. They just call them limes here and they use them for everything, including all the cooking.
I get mine from neighbors. A range of quality for sure, but a lot of neighborhood trading goes on. 