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Lime Juice Fresh and in Syrup
Fresh lime juice with water alone is preferred by many people to that of any other citrus fruit. It is thirstquenching and a mild tonic. When a dash of calisaya is added the tonic effect is of course more pronounced. Lime juice may be added to lemonade or orangeade with a most pleasant aromatic effect (see the Lemon). To preserve the juice of fresh limes unsweetened, care must be used. Squeeze the limes and heat the juice to 150° F.; neither below this nor above 160°, or the flavour will be ruined. Filter while hot through some standard filtering medium and it should keep in good condition a year. The juice may also be preserved with sugar as for lemon and orange syrups.
Two things here: a drink to mix, and a low-temperature pasteurization for keeping raw lime juice unsweetened. The temperature window is the whole point of the second.
- Hold 150–160°F and no moreLime's volatile aromatics are driven off by heat, and overheating leaves a flat, cooked taste. Use an instant-read thermometer and pull the pan the moment it reaches temperature. The recipe blames flavour for the lower limit too, though 150°F is also roughly where an acid juice is pasteurized against spoilage yeasts and molds.
- "Standard filtering medium"At the time that meant filter paper, a felt jelly bag, or several layers of flannel. A coffee filter or a double layer of butter muslin does the same job. Hot juice is thinner and passes through faster.
- Do not trust the yearThere is no sealing step in this recipe, so the juice is re-exposed to air the moment it hits the filter. Pour it hot into scalded jars, cap immediately, and treat it as a refrigerator product of a few weeks. Freezing in ice-cube trays keeps the flavour far better than any shelf storage, and lime juice freezes well.
- CalisayaCalisaya is bitter tincture of cinchona bark (Cinchona calisaya), the source of quinine, sold as a patent tonic bitters when this was written. Quinine intake is regulated now and homemade cinchona tinctures are unpredictably strong. For the same effect use commercial tonic water or a bottled quinine-containing aperitif bitters.
- Which limeThe book does not specify, but probably the small, thin-skinned Mexican or Key lime, more aromatic and more acid than the Persian limes that fill supermarkets. Persian limes work; expect a rounder, less perfumed juice.
- YieldA Persian lime gives roughly 2 tablespoons of juice, a Key lime about half that, so a cup of juice runs 8 to 10 large limes or closer to 20 small ones.
- Proportions for the drinkThe recipe gives none. Start at 1 part juice to 5 or 6 parts cold water, sweeten to taste, and add a strip of zest if you want more of the aromatic note the author is after.
- The syrup versionThe cross-reference is to the book's lemon and orange syrup entries, which are not reproduced here; such syrups are generally juice heated with a heavy proportion of sugar just until it dissolves, then bottled. Sugar at that concentration does the preserving, which is why a syrup keeps better than unsweetened juice.
Lime juice earned its place in household reference books through the navy rather than the kitchen: the Royal Navy's nineteenth-century switch from lemon to West Indian lime juice as an antiscorbutic ration is the origin generally given for the nickname "limey," and the preserved, bottled lime cordial trade grew out of the same demand, Rose's lime juice being the best-known survivor. Unsweetened preserved juice was the harder problem, and the entry's careful 150–160 he paetail. The calisaya note belongs to the same moment, when quinine bitters were sold as everyday household tonics and a bitter lime drink sat somewhere between a refreshment and a medicine.