Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Herb guide to Kaffir Lime Leaves along with all the Kaffir Lime Leaves containing recipes presented on this site, with 78 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Kaffir Lime Leaves as a major herb flavouring.

Kaffir Lime Leaves (also known as Kieffer lime, Makrut, Indonesian Lime Leaves, Wild Lime Leaves or Magrood) are the leaves of the Citrus hystrix DC tree which is a member of the Rutaceae (which includes all the citrus trees as well as about 150 other generae). Citrus hystrix itself is a native to southeast Asia and bears very aromatic leaves. It also bears small green lime fruit that are distinguished by their bumpy exterior.



The leaves are generally hourglass-shaped and are widely used in both Thai and Lao cuisines. Kaffir lime leaves are also popular in the west of Cambodia whilst Malay and Indonesian cuisines use them only occasionally with chicken and fish dishes. The leaves themselves can be used either fresh, dried or pickled. Fresh leaves can also be frozen. In actuality kaffir lime leaves (being the leaves of a tree) are a herb, but their use is so ubiquitous in Thai cuisine that they occur frequently in lists of spices.



The characteristic scent of kaffir lime leaves is due to the presence of the aromatic compound (–)-(S)-citronellal in the essential oil.