Time to squeeze the key limes

Key lime tree

I'm not sure how old our Key lime tree is, but it is very prolific. Back when we planted it, I didn't consider that there was a size difference between Key limes and the fruit one usually sees labeled "lime" in grocery stores. The taste is similar, but Key limes are much smaller; they're ping-pong ball size or slightly larger. Also known as Mexican limes they're often served as a garnish for Mexican beers. When fully ripe, they are yellow rather than green.

Average-sized key lime

Yesterday we picked quite a few, and today I decided to juice them for limeade. It's a time consuming process because it takes about 100 of them to equal a pint of juice.

A sink full of limes

First, I threw them all in the sink to wash them. There are a few of the larger Bearrs limes in this batch, too.

Juicing limes

Then I cut them in half and started juicing. I've found that this kind of hand juicer works better on smaller fruits than the electric juicer I use for lemons, Bearrs limes, and oranges.

The juice of about 200 limes

It took about an hour to juice them all, and I got about 4 cups of juice...

Future compost

...and a big bowlful of rinds, which I'll pulverize in our Vitamix and recycle into the garden as compost.

Fresh limeade!

To make limeade, I used about 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 2 cups of juice, and 6 cups of water. It's really a "to taste" kind of thing, but this yielded what to me was a tasty glass of limeade. Cheers!