Makrut lime
Citrus hystrix
Double-lobed leaves are the point in Thai cooking; the bumpy fruit zest is used too. ‘Kaffir’ is an older market name; makrut is the preferred common name in many kitchens.
GROW → HARVEST → EAT → DRY → POWDER → CAPSULE → GUMMY — forms are not equivalent. Food first.
Identity
Also called: kaffir lime, makrut
What it is
Double-lobed leaves are the point in Thai cooking; the bumpy fruit zest is used too. ‘Kaffir’ is an older market name; makrut is the preferred common name in many kitchens.
From the existing encyclopedia
Kaffir Lime is a dried botanical traded as cut leaf, flower, seed, or root for tea and seasoning. Introduce new ingredients gradually in cooking portions to learn flavor strength before scaling recipes. Balances with honey or dates in warm drinks when used as food sweetening. When substituting dried Kaffir Lime for fresh, use about one-third the volume and bloom in fat or hot water before adding acid or dairy.
Edible portions
- leaves
- zest
Absence of a portion from this list means it is not treated as food here — not that every other part is toxic.
Growing
- Climate. 10–12 or indoor citrus
- Light. Full sun
- Soil. Citrus drainage
- Planting. Container tree you protect from frost.
- Harvest. Pick mature leaves as needed; they freeze well.
Processing, drying, storage
- Storage. Frozen whole leaves keep aroma better than dried. See also Make → Storage.
Preparation and culinary uses
- Torn leaves in curries and tom yum; do not eat the tough leaf midrib
Next steps
Sources
- USDA PLANTS Database — taxonomy and range (verify current entries)
- No USDA FoodData Central nutrient profile is attached here. That is not a claim that the plant contains no nutrients.
- State cooperative extension growing guides — verify for your region
- Integrated from the existing aaaLifetime / quantum-biohack encyclopedia corpus (unique text preserved where it was not boilerplate).
Honest incompleteness is preferred to fabricated completeness. If a section is missing, no record for it is attached here — not a claim that the plant lacks that characteristic, and not that it was omitted as a secret.
Internal quality class A. Strong page: distinctive plant facts plus practical growing or kitchen use.