Kaffir Lime

Both the knobbly, coarse-skinned citrus fruit and the leaves of the kaffir lime tree are extensively used in Southeast Asian cooking, where they feature in soups and curries and are an essential flavouring, most notably in Thai food.

An EU plant health directive banned the importation of lime leaves in 1994 because of the supposed risk of whitefly and leaf mosaic coming in with them. Britain’s climate precludes commercial citrus growing and, since both diseases already exist in Europe while cooking destroys any disease or infestation, the UK plant health people at the Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries took the view that this was not really something to worry about and turned a blind eye. Unfortunately the French and Germans complained about our relaxed view and now the total import ban is being rigidly enforced. Yet you can still buy them… Hmm.