Tasty Green Finger Lime

Description

(Citrus australasica)

Known as the Finger Lime, or Caviar Lime, this beautiful little Aussie citrus is native to the subtropical coastal region of southeastern Queensland and northeastern New South Wales.
It’s documented as early as 1858, so they’ve been here a long, long time but have only more recently become quite popular as interest in bush tucker has grown.

The Tasty Green fingerlime starts out as a tiny, almost chilli pepper shaped green fruit and grows into the familiar elongated, finger lime shape we know and love. In terms of size, it’s actually one of the larger finger lime fruit out there.
Its skin will turn from a bright emerald green to a deep, almost brown-ish green when it’s ripe. You can eat them earlier for a bit more tartness, but they’re at their most juicy when fully ripened.

Inside, you’ll find a ton of tiny, pale green bead-like vesicles that do look very similar to caviar, hence the alternate name. They’re packed with juice and flavour with a satisfying pop and crunch.

When mature, Tasty Green finger limes have quite a long fruiting season, starting to ripen anywhere from March all the way through to September.
This gives you plenty of opportunity to use them in a variety of seasons and cuisines! They’re perfect for tossing through salads, topping BBQed meats, or even mixing into drinks for a bit of extra tang.

Rather than a typical looking citrus tree, their growth habit has more of a shrubby nature with many little branches and small leaves forming a naturally dense looking bush.
Pruning can really help them, as they tend to grow a lot of internal cross branches, so keeping them tidy and giving them good light and airflow is a must to help reduce deadwood.
Beware, of course; these little trees are quite thorny! A natural defense against things that like to eat their fruit (like us).

The flowers are also small and can be quite delicate, so protecting these shrubs with a bit of a wind break would likely help retain the flowers and, therefore, your fruit crop.

One thing to note, while these trees are native to Australia, we graft and grow them here in Dural NSW. They have gotten used to being a little bit spoiled with premium quality potting mix and regular fertlising throughout the growing season.
As such, we do recommend using good quality soils, either for the garden or for pots, and feeding these little guys regularly to get the best performance out of them.

Please note: These trees are part of our specialty range and are often limited in stock. We only have generic labels for these trees, as we only grow them in small quantities.

For our citrus care recommendations, please check our Help & Advice page!