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Alright, so I was at a marketplace - it was more for clothes and stuff -
and there's an old lady selling flowers,
and she's got all these, like little bulbs and like roses and things for sale,
And she also had a big bucket full of these.
And, of course, it looks kind of like a lime, but it's really bumpy and I didn't know what this was,
So I asked the lady "What is this?"
She goes "A lemon." She looked at me really sternly.
And I go like, "Why... Why is it all bumpy?"
And she's like "Lemon! Lemon."
She talked to another lady she was with like in Chinese, like really grumpy about me,
and was really, uh, really unhappy about selling me this,
But I did my research, and it's not a lemon. It's not.
It's related to a lime.
But it's not just any lime, it's what you call a Kaffir lime,
and these are very unique, these are not something you'd want to use the way you would use a regular lime or a lemon.
The rind of this is usually ground and used in Lao and Thai curries.
The leaves are used in Tom yum soup, so that's kind of interesting,
but the fruit itself, like the juice, like all of that is not used.
It's edible, but supposedly it is too acidic, and too estringent for most people to actually like,
so, um, I'm not sure.
I'm gonna try it, but it sounds like it's probably not gonna be that good so expect me to make a lot of, like, faces.
But there are some interesting facts about this.
It's used medicinally to brighten one's outlook, and ward off evil spirits of course,
it repels insects,
it cleans hair and gums, but you don't want to eat it.
So let's uh, let's see what it tastes like.
Let me just cut into this.
It's very, very aromatic and that's one kind of like, uh, cool thing about it.
Let me show you - I just cut it.
Look at that look at all those wedges. This is not your ordinary lime,
And, uh, it is very, very strong. -coughs-
If I had to describe the smell, it's like if you took a lime and you made it really, really floral smelling.
It's like very floral. It smells like...
It smells kind of like detergent. Like detergent that you'd use for your laundry,
more like dishwasher detergent yeah, that's it.
Like, very chemical, like, lemony smell, not like a regular lime or regular citrus that you'd eat, but more like what you must use in a chemical-
I wonder if that's something they use these for, because it's so aromatic,
maybe that's cheaper to use this to scent things to smell like lemons than to actually use, you know, actual lemons.
Especially if you don't want to be eating it.
I'm kind of frightened to try it, but I'm going to. This is what I do for you.
And it's got a lot of seeds in it, there's a lot of seeds.
I'm cutting into this thing and just like seeds are just like pouring out of it, so I'm gonna pick some of those guys out.
Alright, here we go.
Oh my god.
That is, um... that is quite strong, so I'll tell you what I'm gonna do.
I'm gonna take some water, and I'm going to try it diluted.
You know it's not bad. I like it.
It's not like overly estringent or overly bitter. It's very sour. It's very strong.
It's got a lot flavor to it and kinda tastes like dishwashing detergent, but other than that, it's um, it's pretty good.
Let's see what else I can do to it, I'm gonna put some sugar in here. That's a good idea.
Yeah...
It's got kind of a soapy taste too, which is maybe why I think it tastes so much like detergent.
I think the soapiness is coming from the rind more than anything,
I just kind of, like, licked my finger, and now I'm getting a nasty taste.
Yeah, I mean it's not bad.
I think you can use it. I'd just use it in a very small quantity,
and probably with, like, lemons or limes from the supermarket.
So these are not, like, completely useless for the juice, but I think they'd probably be better suited as like...
like a spice, like not to be really had in any kind of, like, great quantity.
And the soapiness is there, but it's not, like, that bad.
So yeah, I don't know. I don't know really what else I could tell you about this,
except yeah, it's not not your typical lemon or lime. This is a very unique kind of guy here.
Alright. I think that's all I'm gonna say about this one, so yeah, Kaffir limes. How about that.
Alright, bye!
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