How to Eat a Sweet Lime

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: February 25, 2023 References

Sweet limes look a lot like regular limes, but with a different color rind. Whereas regular limes are more of a deep green, sweet limes have a yellowish orange or yellowish-green exterior. Sweet limes are packed with antioxidants, like Vitamins B and C, and dietary fiber. You can eat sweet lime peeled and raw as a snack. Another option is to cook sweet lime and either preserve it in jam or eat it in a salad. Once you’ve prepared sweet lime for eating, you can experiment with using it in a variety of ways!

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Selecting and Cutting Sweet Lime

1
Select firm, heavy fruit. Avoid fruits with soft spots, blemishes, or signs of mold. Look for fruits with rinds that are evenly textured.^{[1]
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- Heavy fruit contains more juice.
2
Wash the fruit. Rinse the fruit under tap water, at a temperature close to the fruit’s. Rub the fruit with clean hands, or scrub it with a clean vegetable brush, under the running water. Shake the fruit dry, or pat it with a paper towel or clean cloth.^{[2]
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- Washing fruit under tap water removes residue and 98% of surface bacteria.^{[3]
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- Washing the fruit’s skin prevents dirt or bacteria from transferring into the inside of the fruit as you cut the skin.^{[4]
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3
Sterilize the rind, if desired. Mix three parts water to one part vinegar in a bowl. Use water at a temperature similar to the fruit. Soak your produce for five to ten minutes. Rinse the fruit under running water.^{[5]
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- If you’re serving sweet lime with the rind on, such as for garnishing, you may want to sterilize the fruit.
- If you’re using the zest of a sweet lime, you may want to sterilize the fruit.
- If you have a lot of produce and want to soak it in the sink instead, make sure to thoroughly clean the sink first.
4
Slice and deseed the sweet lime. Place the lime on a cutting board, so that one of the pointed ends is facing straight up. Cut the lime in half, keeping the lime held together with your other hand. Cut the lime in quarters. Remove the seeds, and trim off the pith, if desired.^{[6]
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- Pith is the white, spongy portion that covers the inside of the fruit.
- Pith is healthy and contains fiber. However, some people prefer to remove it with kitchen shears, as pith can have a bitter taste.
5
Peel the lime, if desired. Open up the cut lime. Pinch one of the four inner fruit segments. Hold the peel down with your other hand as you rock the pinched segment back and forth, off of the peel. Repeat this for the other four segments.^{[7]
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Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Serving Sweet Lime

1
Eat sweet lime raw. Cut and peel sweet lime. Chill it in the refrigerator first, if desired. Have sweet lime by itself as a snack, or add it to any fruit salad.
- Try a honey-lime dressing for fruit salad, using two teaspoons of sweet lime zest and one tablespoon of sweet lime juice for every 1/4 cup honey.^{[8]
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2
Make sweet lime and beet salad. Roast beets, sweet lime segments, and wedges of fennel in olive oil.^{[9]
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Research source} Alternately, look for a beet and fennel salad recipe that includes oranges or other citrus fruit. Substitute sweet limes for the citrus fruit in the recipe.^{[10]
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- Sweet lime fruit compliments the taste of beets and fennel.^{[11]
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3
Add sweet lime and its juice to yam salad. Simmer diced sweet potatoes and winter squash in sweet lime juice. Add sweet lime segments. Sprinkle chopped walnuts over the finished salad.^{[12]
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- You can add sweet lime segments and/or juice to your favorite potato salad or yam salad recipe.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Preserving Sweet Limes

1
Store sweet limes loose. Don’t store sweet limes wrapped in a bag, which encourages mold growth. Leave them loose on a counter, in a bowl, or in the refrigerator. Refrigerate sweet limes only if you prefer them to be cold. ^{[13]
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- Sweet limes will last about two weeks, whether they are refrigerated or not.^{[14]
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2
Pickle sweet limes. Chop and peel sweet limes, or pickle them whole. Use salt to pickle your sweet limes. Add oil and pepper, or sugar with crushed spices and lemon juice, if desired.^{[15]
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- For spicy pickled sweet lime, add mustard oil, garlic, and/or chili.
3
Make jam with sweet limes. Find an orange marmalade recipe. Substitute sweet limes for the oranges. Alternately, you can use a lime marmalade recipe. Make sure to deseed your sweet limes before adding them to the recipe.^{[16]
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- Marmalade recipes involve cooking citrus pulp with sugar and salt.

Community Q&A

Question

Can sweet lime slices be dried in a home dehydrator? How will they taste?

Nadia Siddans

Community Answer

They will taste tangy and leave a really good aftertaste. Make sure that you leave the skin on so you can peel it of easily after dehydrating.