VeganMoFo: Exotic Produce Update

The mangosteens and rambutan are loooooong gone, but I knew they would be.

The best discovery of my exotic produce shopping trip? Calamansi Limes.
The biggest disappointment? Sweet Limes

Let's start with the bad news... those sweet limes were a real let down. I was so excited about the idea of a lime that you could peel and eat like an orange. I'm pretty sure that I just got crappy ones, because the ones I bought were totally and completely flavorless. Musty said, in a desperate attempt at salvaging our high hopes for the sweet lime, "It's like if water were a fruit!" Truly, they had no flavor. I'd be willing to try again, but I'd grill the vendor for a while first.

Now, the good news! A new favorite... the Calamansi limes. They are tiny, like marbles. The big ones are the size of shooting marbles, and the little ones are smaller. I bought a zip lock baggie full for only $2. At first they were almost all green. A week later, the last few have turned mostly orange. I did some Calamansi searches online and found that one of the most common uses is for a lemonade type drink.

Oooooh, it's GOOD. I used about 1 1/2 Tbsp Calamansi juice (you just juice 'em whole), 1 1/2 Tbsp agave, and filled the rest of my big glass with sparkling water. Apparently, it's also common to freeze the calamansi and use them as ice cubes. So, I did that. Oh, this soda is wonderful. The flavor is sweet and sour and bitter all at once. Distinctly citrusy, the calamansi limes have a flavor that combines lime and tangerine. The zippy bitter of citrus zest is strong in this soda, and it reminds me of the bitter soda I loved when I lived in Italy. It's really wonderful, such that I'm saving some seeds, and I'm gonna try to grow me a Calamansi lime tree one day!

Speaking of tiny citrus, and citrus trees... look what I found today:

A few months ago, we (aka Musty) replanted the meridian alongside our driveway. Anytime I see dirt, I see future-food-production. So we planted 3 citrus trees: Bearss lime, Trovita Orange, and Cara Cara Orange. The cara caras are my favorite! So, this morning I was out weeding... and noticed lots of blossoms on the Cara Cara tree. How exciting. But - lo! What's this?? Tiny little future oranges! See one on the bottom there? And an even tinier one to the right of the blossoms? So cool.