On Saturday I had finally come around to squeezing the juice out of my key limes (more on this later) in preparation for salting and crushing. I was sitting at the kitchen table in front of the limes, a cutting board and a small bowl just making the first slice when I heard Bang! Smash! Boom! from the family room. Then silence. The screaming.
Rushing in, I saw Entropy Girl face down on the floor in front of the kids' play table, an up-ended bin nearby and a dozen or so toy airplanes strewn about. Without looking I picked her up, held her to my shoulder and began comforting her, patting her back and murmuring, "Oh, sweetie! That's it...get all the hurt out...mama's here." The crying abated and so you can imagine my surprise in looking down to see the front of my shirt covered in blood.
And that is how I came to spend Saturday evening-into-night in the ER rather than making chutney. Entropy Girl is fine. She bit her lip and the lip is, as they say, highly vascular (which explains the horror-movie gushing) and there is no permanent damage done despite the depth and breadth of the injury. Luckily, the cut did not cross the (new vocab for me here) "Vermilion Border" - where your lip ends and the regular skin begins. If it had, she certainly would have needed stitches but now will only require them if the wound reopens, which seems unlikely at this point.
My juiced limes now reside in the freezer pending another chutney window of opportunity.
In the interests of moving this chutney thing along, though, there are a few things that I feel I should share:
- 1. Some limes you will find marked on the package as having been coated with "vegetable or petroleum-based wax for freshness". Others are marked with one or the other. For obvious reasons, purchase the vegetable waxed (since we are eating the rind after all) and use one of those fruit and vegetable cleaners. I normally hate those cleaners but make an exception in this case and I'll even give a pass on the use of wax. Key Limes are very fragile and if I am going to be greedy enough to want to buy some as far north as I am then I have to make peace with its use. This opens up a host of other food-related issues that I have neither the knowledge nor time to explore adequately so we'll just have to leave it there.
2. Most chutneys use only the zest - the colorful part of the fruit's peel, discarding the bitter white pith. Key Limes, though, have a very thin peel so I just crush up the whole thing. I can't even imagine trying to use a zester on a fruit so little.
3. To prepare the limes, cut them in half and squeeze the juice out into a small bowl. Key Limes have a great many seeds, so be sure to remove them as well. The juice can be strained into an ice cube tray and the frozen cubes removed to a freezer bag for longer-term storage. This juice is a fun byproduct and may be used in drinks (alcoholic or non-), mixed with sugar to glaze an angel food cake, in a pie, and so on. I actually think that lime sugar cookies are among the most perfect confections going and there are few things more wonderful than lime sugar. You, no doubt, have your own preferences in this regard, which I'd love to hear. Hmmm...I wonder what key lime jelly would be like?!
Once the limes are juiced and seeded, marinate them in a couple tablespoons of salt (table or kosher is fine) overnight. If you can do this in a glass or glazed bowl so much the better. Then cut then into little strips or - if you're pressed for time - process them (but only if you've got a super powerful processor). Then you're ready for cooking.
Like the spiced lemons, chutney is a good project for a beginning canner because the ingredients and proportions are entirely up to personal taste. I use two pounds of the limes (prepared, they weigh somewhat less), a cup or so of mixed raisins, a tablespoon of grated fresh ginger, a couple tablespoons of regular old cider vinegar, a one-pound box of brown sugar, and some red pepper flakes. This all cooks down to an unlovely mass that is very, very delicious. And I make sure to taste liberally during cooking (the cook's prerogative). If it's too hot, a few more raisons. Too sweet? More pepper or vinegar or ginger (or all three). If you don't like raisins, then currents might be the ticket. Some people dispense with the flakes and add fresh pepper. Or might prefer a fancier vinegar or more ginger or less ginger or...really, whatever you like is fine. Feel free to play it fast and loose with the ingredients and the texture. With more pepper and vinegar it's kind of like Lime Pickle, with more sugar or - hey, why not some molasses? - it's more jam-like.
Once you're satisfied with the taste, pack into prepared jars (I use half pints) and process in a boiling hot water bath for 15 minutes. Cool on a folded tea towel and let cure for, say, 6 to 8 weeks before you even think of opening. This is delicious on a the cold leftovers of a roast, spread with cream cheese on a bagel, with peanut butter in a celery stick or just on a spoon directly out of the jar.