Lime juice is a popular cooking ingredient throughout Southeast Asia, but the Philippine variety or calamansi is particularly well-known and is a favorite refreshing juice drink or used for dipping sauces and as a souring ingredient for meat and fish dishes.
A member of the citrofortunella family (from Wikipedia), Philippine calamansi is known in Western countries as acid orange, calamondin or Panama orange. The Philippine variety is a shrub or small tree growing to 3–6 m, and bears small citrus fruits. Although known as a native of the Philippines or other Southeast Asian countries, calamansi is a hybrid between species in the genera Citrofortunella and unknown in the wild.
In the Filipino kitchen table, calamansi is often used to flavor a vareity of dipping sauces. A classic favorite is fish sauce which consists of a few tablespoons of patis (or fish sauce), crushed siling labuyo (hot peppers) and the juice from freshly squeezed kalamansi. Fried fish and Philippine noodle dishes such as pancit are also served or drizzled with kalamansi juice.
Bon appétit!
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