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Finger limes contain caviar-like pearls with an intense, lime flavour
High hopes for prickly Aussie native Growing them is a case of trial and error and they’ll fight to the thorny death to protect their fruit, but finger limes could have a bright future for orchardists in New Zealand. KRISTINE WALSH reports.
With their fruit hidden deep in a canopy of long thorns, finger limes can be hazardous to harvest, but growers say the potential rewards in growing them are great. “They are not easy plants and we have a lot more to learn about them,” says Cath Carter of Gisborne’s Hill Road Orchard. “But they are a really interesting product so that's why we’re going with them.” It was, in fact, Cath’s husband Matthew who first got intrigued with the spiky citrus, which produces small, gherkinshaped fruit, bursting with caviar-like pearls of intense lime flavour with a hint of lemon.
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The ORCHARDIST : FEBRUARY 2022
Matt came across the fruit on a research trip to Australia a few years ago and thought they had potential for growing in New Zealand. “So about five years ago, he started trying to source them off Trade Me or wherever he could,” says Cath. “I was thinking ‘why would you spend 150 bucks on a prickly weed?’, but he just thought they were really cool.” Established growers of mainly citrus – which they sell either as whole fruit or unpasteurised juice – the Carters have always been supportive of each other’s projects and Cath has her own planting experiments on the go.
