My Kaffir Lime Tree

I’ve received some unusual plants through the USPS – onion starts, seed potatoes, garlic bulbs, but never before a tree, and certainly not a tree with a permit.  My tree came in a cardboard box – about 4 feet long. It arrived in perfect health, with a 3 year warranty, a permit, lots of leaves, and even a few limes.  I had ordered it online from  LemonCitrusTree.com, a company with an astonishing assortment of trees, including Minneola Honeybells and Red Naval Oranges.  They even had 4 kinds of limes: Persian Lime, Key Lime, Kaffir Lime, and a Limequat.  No problem choosing though.  For my first mail order tree I knew what I wanted:  Kaffir Lime.

The hunt for a Kaffir Lime started with Renita Mendonca’s Seasoned and Spiced cooking class.  Renita has culinary expertise which goes way beyond her own native Indian cuisine.  She showed us how to use tamarind,  turmeric root, galangal, lemongrass and Kaffir Lime leaves.  The aroma of Kaffir Lime is heavenly.  The gardener in me went home wanting to grow these exotic herbs.  Why drive all the way to the Indian grocery if you could pluck leaves from a front porch Zone 1 tree?  New England is not Florida, but we do have nice warm summers.  So I bought a few turmeric roots at Whole Foods, put them in potting soil, and went online to find a Kaffir Lime tree.

I will mention that I do have another Lime tree, which has its own special history.  Before ordering the Kaffir Lime, I tore up a couple of leaves from the thorny Lime.  These leaves also seemed to have a heavenly aroma – and to my inexperienced Western nose – indistinguishable from Kaffir.  Renita confirmed that these leaves were definitely not Kaffir lime. 

So the Kaffir tree arrived, I unpacked it, read its permit from the commissioner of the Louisiana Dept of Ag and transplanted it with help from my son. I snipped a leaf and sniffed.  Wow – way different from the other lime, I agree.  I couldn’t wait to use the leaves, so I added some along with ginger for flavoring a chicken broth.  Another exotic dish to come: Beef Rendang. Read more on using Kaffir Lime leaves.

This week’s garden harvest is not abundant, but tasty and fresh.  A pound of mustard, various lettuces, arugula, and other greens.  I’ve been enjoying plenty of smoothies and salads.  I’m learning about seasonal planning.  From my community garden, I see that it is possible to be harvesting plenty of kale, spinach, parsnips, over-wintered lettuce, spring lettuce, and roots.  The trick is to put things in at just the right time in the late summer. There is always more to learn when it comes to growing food.

Oh - and back to that Kaffir Lime tree. I've got plenty of leaves - so if you live in the Boston area, I'm happy to share.