Black lime (dried)

Description

Dried Black limes are limes which have lost all water content, usually after having spent a majority of their drying time in the sun.

Dried Black limes are used to add a sour flavour to dishes, through a process known as souring.

Strongly flavoured, they taste sour and citrusy like a lime but they also taste earthy and somewhat smoky and lack the sweetness of fresh limes. As they are preserved, they also have a slightly bitter, fermented flavor, but the bitter accents are mainly concentrated in the lime’s outer skin and seeds.

In Persian cuisine, they are used to flavour stews and soups. Across the Persian Gulf, they are used with fish, whereas in Iraq they are added to almost all dishes and stuffing.

Black limes are made into a warm drink called hamidh.

Powdered dried lime is also used as an ingredient in Persian Gulf-style baharat (a spice mixture which is also called kabsa or kebsa).