When Life gives you Lemons

Life and lemons

There is a very famous saying that when life gives you lemons, you should go make lemonade with them.This is a method of trying to stay positive even when things in life are not going as planned (which it seldom does!) So the best bet is to take the situation in hand and make the best out of it.

Life gave me an entire fruit bearing lime tree just last month. I went to Bangalore to attend one of my oldest friends wedding. There was a pre-wedding party at a sprawling bungalow with an awesome garden where we spent the night.

We woke up the next morning and started exploring the beautifully manicured garden and the grounds around the bungalow. Suddenly I was came across a small tree with some strange looking greenish yellow fruit hanging from its branches. A few of the fruits were also lying on the ground just waiting to be picked up by yours truly.


I expressed my surprise to my friends and we started to investigate what this strange fruit might be.
On going close and picking it up I realised it us some sort of a citrus fruit but it was very unlike any lemon that I have ever seen before. It was golden green to yellow in colour and the surface was crinkled. It was a bit like how the brain membrane looks which spooked me a bit!

The leaves were very unique and pretty to look at.
I touched the leaves and on rubbing slightly it released a heady citrusy fresh aroma which bowled me over!

pretty lime leaves

I got very excited and immediately started collecting the fruits that I could find to bring back to Kolkata. Now my excitement on finding a citrus tree may appear to be strange but there is a reason dis this.

My darling husband is a die- hard fan of lemons and none of his meals are complete without a lemon wedge on his plate. So these lemons seemed to be the perfect gift for hubby back home in Kolkata.


I returned home after all the wedding revelries and handed over my stash of wierd looking lemons to the man. That day our lunch plate had a wedge of unknown lime together with the customary rice, moong dal and alu bhaja.

Juicy kafir lime

My oh my! This lime turned out to be very very juicy and super tangy. The citrusy flavour is much more stronged and pronounced than our ordinary lemon.


Now I had to find out what is the name of this mystery citrus. When we were foraging for the limes in Bangalore my friends husband had mentioned maybe these are Kafir Limes. So that thought stuck in my head and I turned to my favourite google for some answers. And lo and behold! Kafir Lime it is! The idea for this blog post on when life gives you lemons( one of my favourite quotes) came to my mind right at that point!


I had heard a lot about the Kafir lime while doing research for my culinary endeavours. So my joy at having stumbled across this lime knew no bounds! I immediately made plans for a Kafir Lime pie or a lime tea cake which sadly is yet to be executed. But I will surely upload the recipe here as soon as the cake or the pie is ready! Till then my search for more interesting and unique fruits, nuts and veggies continues to make “lemonade” from the lemons that life throws my way!

You can try out one of my lemon cake recipes made with another exotic lime here https://thefoodlives.com/lemon-poppy-seed-loaf-cake/

This post is a part of “How to become a profitable blogger” blog train. hosted by Neha and Surbhi.

I am growing my blog with Surbhi from

http://www.prettymummasays.com/ and

Neha from

https://bloggingmadeeasier.com/ and https://www.sharingourexperiences.com/

13 Comments

  1. this is an interesting and new info for me. the fruit looks really strange in picture and thanks to you that you had shared about it later in post. seems like a rare varity of lemons. looking forward for your post of recipe.

  2. Wow I’m also growing the normal lime. I wonder how much it will grow because right now it is in a pot.

  3. I love lemons a lot and your tree is beautiful. Although I had never tasted Kafir lemons but hey are unique they seem a combo of lemons and walnut for that brainy texture. I’m sure your family had relished the bag full of them.Look forward to your recipes too.

  4. In our ancestral village we have rows of kafir limes. Growing up in such environment I took the limes as granted. The post reminded me to be grateful of the experiences I had in our village.

  5. We have a tree in our local neighbourhood park, that bears these fruits too. We usually just have it as fresh lime soda and the juice is absolutely delicious! Would love your recipes for the desserts!

  6. kafir lime is something new to me and your vivid description has ensured that it stays with long enough..atleast till i find it for real.. 🙂

  7. Interesting Kafir lime, Heard it first time, post raised my curiosity level so high, will wait for your next post surely, to know more about.

  8. It is a different kind of lemon which we normally get.. The pictures are beautifully captured. Never heard about it before. Looks like one can make great lemonade out of it.

  9. Thanks for the post. I had heard of kafir lime but never saw it. The dessert recipe should be tried soon 🙂 Thanks for the pics and the post.

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