LIMES -

As I was scooping a spoonful of coffee in the percolator, the idea to write about limes flew through my brain like a torpedo.  

• Limes are native to Southeast Asia.
• Around the year 1000 AD, Arab traders spread limes to North Africa and the Middle East.
• Christopher Columbus received the applause for bringing lime seeds to the West Indies on his second voyage in 1493.
• The lime industry in America, Florida and California, developed by the late 1800s.
•  Key limes are also known as Mexican limes.  Key limes are a hybrid of lemon and real limes.
• Persian limes are known as Tahiti limes.
• Mexico and Brazil are currently the major exporters of limes.
• Limes contain high levels of Vitamin C, which protect us from infections plus they speed up the body's healing process.
• According to WebMD, if one has a tendency toward kidney stones, drinking lime water every day may prove to be beneficial.  Citrate, contained in lime juice, has been shown to dissolve kidney stones and prevent them from forming.  I'm certainly not a doctor, and this point is included here simply as a lay person.  Do not rely on my blog for health care.
• Limes contain very little natural sugar.  Limes that are riper are sweeter and juicier than immature limes.
• Limes have a connection to sailors.  Limes prevented scurvy, a deficiency of Vitamin C.  The slang term, Limey, started when the British Navy issued lime juice to sailors to prevent scurvy.  That's how the sailors came to be nicknamed "limeys."  
• I've not actually tried this experiment, but limes supposedly sink, while lemons float.
• Limes are a staple in Mexican, Thai and other cuisines, adding zip to dishes like guacamole, tacos and stir-fries.
• One lime tree can produce over 1,000 limes every year.
• Again, the word is that limes, lemons, oranges and grapefruit can all help the brain stay healthy.  Whether we include it in a salad dressing, sip on lemonade or squirt the juice on tacos, or add lime to hot or iced tea, it's good to get some citrus in our diet every day.  That's what they say.  I have no idea who they are.

Sidebar:  Okay, this brings us to my kitchen counter.  Yuppers, there's always a place for lemons and/or limes.  For a while now, I've been on a lime kick.  They (whoever they are) tell us to add slices of lime directly into a cup of tea.  Well, I'm here to tell you that I never liked following rules that confine me.  That's how I earned the reference "free thinker."  Here's the deal:  Forget the tea.   I prefer to add the lime slice(s), along with a few drops of olive juice, to a vodka-tonic.  Hark, pray tell, limeys, bring on the limes and cast out the scurvy!