Ingredients · Spice

Kaffir Lime Leaf

Citrus hystrix · Rutaceae (citrus family)

Kaffir Lime Leaf
A double leaf — two leaves joined end to end in an hourglass, with a winged stalk — and an intensity of citrus that nothing else in a kitchen reaches. It is sharper and far more perfumed than lime zest, and it is the leaf, not the fruit, that the world cooks with; the fruit itself is small, warty, very acidic and mostly used for washing. Two products carry it. Also called makrut lime or Thai lime.

What it’s like, and how to use it

The partLeaf
KindSpice
CaffeineCaffeine-free
Where it is fromSoutheast Asia (native range)
TasteIntense citrus and floral — sharper and more perfumed than lime zest

How to use it

Stack the leaves, roll them and slice them hair-thin if they are going to be eaten; drop them in whole and torn if the broth is going to be strained or the leaf left behind. In tom yum, tom kha, and green, red and yellow curries. Dried leaves want longer in liquid than fresh. The tough central vein is always removed.

With food

Coconut milk. Prawns and white fish. Chicken. Chile and lime. Lemongrass. Rice. Mango and pineapple.

With spices

Lemongrass and galangal, its two constant companions. Chile and coriander root. Shallot and garlic. Turmeric. Ginger.

With tea

Not a tea ingredient, though its aromatics overlap with Darjeeling's.

Its story

Where it comes from

Native across tropical Southeast Asia — Kew lists it from Assam, Bangladesh, the eastern Himalaya and southern China through Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaya, Sumatra, Borneo, the Philippines, Sulawesi and the Moluccas to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Its natural range is probably obscured by how widely it is grown. Lot origin unconfirmed.

What happened

Its great dish is tom yum: broth with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lime juice, fish sauce and chile, which comes from the riverside communities of Thailand's Central Plains and was inscribed on UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage list on 3 December 2024. In Cambodia the leaf is a base of kroeung paste and the fruit goes into lustral water for ceremonies; in Indonesia it flavours soto ayam and rendang; in Malaysia and Laos it is in the curry pastes. It has a washing life too — the Dutch naturalist Rumphius recorded the fruit used for shampooing and washing in the Moluccas in the seventeenth century, and on the Malay Peninsula it was sold as a soap substitute. On the name: the shop keeps Kaffir because that is what its customers call it. The word's most likely origin traces to the Kaffirs of Sri Lanka, a community partly descended from enslaved Bantu people, and the earliest record, from Ceylon in 1888, reads that Europeans call it Caffre Lime. The same word became a severe ethnic slur in South Africa, where the plant is now usually called Thai lime. That history is recorded here plainly.

On the shelf with it

Sold on its own, and in these blends.

Every ingredient in the shop

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