Lime
Citrus aurantiifolia
True Key/Mexican lime is small, seedy, and aromatic. Persian grocery limes are usually C. × latifolia, a different hybrid — still ‘lime’ in the kitchen, different tree.
GROW → HARVEST → EAT → DRY → POWDER → CAPSULE → GUMMY — forms are not equivalent. Food first.
Identity
Also called: Key lime, Mexican lime
What it is
True Key/Mexican lime is small, seedy, and aromatic. Persian grocery limes are usually C. × latifolia, a different hybrid — still ‘lime’ in the kitchen, different tree.
Edible portions
- juice
- 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. 10–11 more tender than lemon
- Light. Full sun, heat
- Soil. Drainage
- Planting. More frost-tender than lemon.
- Harvest. When colored for the type (Key limes yellow when fully ripe; cooks often use green).
Preparation and culinary uses
- Ceviche acid, pies, vinaigrettes
Nutrition and compounds
- Vitamins (qualitative, well-known associations). vitamin C — not milligram values.
AAA interpretation Food first. These associations explain why a plant shows up in a nutrient conversation — they are not a supplement shopping list.
Next steps
Sources
- USDA PLANTS Database — taxonomy and range (verify current entries)
- USDA FoodData Central — nutrient profiles for foods (verify current entries; this page does not invent milligrams)
- 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.