Burlap & Barrel - Ground Black Lime
Category: Spices
Black Lime is a versatile ingredient with a famously savory and tart flavor. Ours comes from a family farm in Guatemala. The limes are sun-dried, then ground into an easy-to-use powder. A versatile ingredient common in Persian cooking, they have a savory, tart flavor that's great on roasted meat or vegetables, in stews and anywhere you'd use lime juice. It's also a good alternative to Makrut / lime leaves in southeast Asian dishes.
COOKING:
- Sprinkle into rice, soups, fish and kebabs
- Toss with vegetables prior to roasting
- Use as garnish for cocktails, especially sours and margaritas
Meet the Farmers:
Our relationship with partner farmer Don Amilcar in Guatemala is one of our longest-standing and closest farmer partnerships. He grows the limes that are dried to make our ground black lime.
Cecilia and her husband Jonathan work together with Emilio (Milo) to run the drying facility two hours outside Guatemala City. Cecilia's father learned how to dry limes from a Middle Eastern spice buyer in the 1970s, and they made a family business of drying and grinding the limes that grow abundantly in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. (They are not used in the local cuisine, but Cecilia makes a mean lemon pie with the ground black lime.)
Cecilia, Jonathan and Milo oversee a hand-built drying area of rows of raised earth platforms that stretch as far as the eye can see. Furrows between the rows give the lime juice an outlet to run off into as they dry. It takes 2-3 months for the limes to transform from bright green fresh fruit to sun-cured, blackened, hard limes. The process is overseen by workers who turn the limes throughout the day, ensuring they dry evenly.
We were fortunate to meet and talk with the team at the drying facility on our sourcing trip to Guatemala in March 2022. When you try this black lime, you can taste their expert knowledge and dedication to perfect sun-drying!
$9.99
2.80 ounces
Burlap & Barrel
Burlap & Barrel is a Public Benefit Corporation building new international food supply chains that are equitable, transparent and traceable.
A single origin spice company, Burlap & Barrel buys spices from farmers around the globe, who they call partners. They’ve eliminated the intermediaries who have traditionally bought and sold spices multiple times before any jar of spice lands in a U.S. customer’s kitchen cabinet. This means their spices are fresher than what you can find from the big spice companies. Spices so potent that they suggest new customers use just half a serving at first, as they sometimes get feedback from customers that the spices are too strong. It's not that the spices are too strong, but rather we are just accustomed to cooking with old spices! Did you know that supermarket spices sometimes have been in transit for three years?!?!?
Another benefit to eliminating spice brokers is that Burlap & Barrel can pay the farmers more for their crops while offering quality spices to the public at affordable prices.
SUPPORTING SMALLHOLDER FARMERS
Burlap & Barrel is working towards ending inequality and exploitation in food systems that disenfranchise skilled farmers.
They do this by:
- Connecting smallholder farmers to high-value markets
- Educating consumers about the impact of product traceability on human rights
- Sourcing unique foods with terroir that are grown biodynamically and organically using traditional techniques
REDEFINING SUSTAINABILITY
Mainstream conversations around food sustainability rarely consider the people involved in growing, harvesting, transporting, processing and cooking food. Sustainability is discussed in terms of environmental impact, or the comfort of livestock providing meat, dairy or eggs.
The folks at Burlap & Barrel believe that the standard measures of sustainability must evolve to consider the conditions in which the farmers who drive global food supply chains earn their livelihoods. Single origin ingredients draw attention to the unique environments in which incredible ingredients grow and to the farmers with the expertise and commitment to grow them well.