It’s called a Persian Lime, also a Tahiti lime or Bearss lime. But you probably recognize it as the plain-old-lime you see in the store!It is a citrus fruit grown commercially in the U.S. and sold as a “lime”.
The fruit is about 2 inches in diameter, often with slightly nippled ends. There’s no mistaking that it is green, either.
It is larger, thicker-skinned, and less aromatic than the Key Lime, which has a wider agricultural distribution worldwide.
The advantages of the persian lime in commercial agriculture compared to the Key Lime are the larger size, absence of seeds, hardiness, absence of thorns on the bushes, and longer fruit shelf life.
They are less acidic than key limes and don’t have the bitterness that lends to the key lime’s unique flavor.
Persian limes are commercialized primarily in Florida in the U.S. It rose to prominence after Key lime groves were wiped out there by a hurricane in 1926, though Persian lime groves themselves were devastated by Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
U.S. Persian lime imports from Mexico are handled mostly through McAllen, Texas.(citrus.com)