You may not have noticed it, but you seldom–if ever–see lemons in Peru. Instead, that niche is filled by a Peruvian fruit that resembles limes and is simply called limón, the Spanish word for “lemon”. The cognate of the English lime, lima, is reserved for a very different fruit.

Peru has wonderful limes. They are tart but not as bitter as the limes in the United States, whether persian limes or key limes. They have a broader and more balanced flavor. Their rind is also not as thick and they vary from green to yellowish in external color.