The Spanish Lime also known as Quenepa is a fruit with a thousand names. It’s known as Mamoncillo, Guinep, Limoncillo, Mamón, Jocote, you get the point. Why does it have so many names? We can only guess that every country that has it, likes it so much they want to make it their own. No joke. People are serious about this little fruit! The Puerto Ricans love it so much that they even have a national festival celebrating the Quenepa, which is what they call it in the island of enchantment.
Other than it looks similar to a key lime from the outside; the Spanish Lime could not be more different from a citrus fruit. It’s actually a cousin of the Lychee, Rambutan, and Longan, some of Tropical Fruit Box’s fan favorites.
What do Spanish Limes taste like?
The Spanish Lime tastes like a Lychee that married a lemon but without the high citrus notes. It’s tangy and sweet, with a hint of tamarind and it feels refreshing in your mouth. Perhaps that is why it’s a popular summer beach snack.
How do you eat these tasty Quenepas?
The skin is a beautiful green that's hard like a shell but not so hard like an egg. When you squeeze it, it cracks open pretty easily. You can cut it with a knife like the civilized person you are, or you can have an adventure and open it by biting down on it which is what we do since this is a beach favorite (don’t tell your dentist).
Once the soft shell cracks, remove it and you’ll see the peach-colored translucent orange flesh. Put it in your mouth and chew the flesh off the seed. The flesh is pretty stuck to the seed so you are going to have to work for it. When you are done, get rid of the seed and repeat until you've gone through all of them. When you are done and you just realized that you went through the whole box without sharing it with your loved ones, you can order another box in guilt and repeat the process all over again. Only while they last.
What are you waiting for? Get Your Spanish Limes Today!
