My Mother won the blue ribbon at the California State Fair 5 years in a row ... until she got bored...for her lemon meringue pie.

Her secret, apart from her crust that was made with lard, was that the pies were made with Meyer lemons.

If life gives you lemons, pray they are Meyers!

I am also a big fan of key limes; I have a friend here in Guatemala who has 300 acres of seedless key limes that produce the whole year; he exports a lot to the US and even more to Europe. Look for Citrex seedless key limes in your store.

That's great John! I will keep an eye out for them. Will you ever get your Meyers here?

Mike

I too have also been wondering if John's Meyer lemons would ever make it here to the U.S. Tonight I stopped at a Wegman's that is almost an hour away from my apartment. They are one of the very few grocery stores with a HUGE produce dept. I did check for meyer lemons but there were none :( I did see Page mandarins but at 99 cents a piece I passed!

Andrew

My Meyers will only be allowed into the US market in the NE... Willmington, Delaware or Philidelphia ports.... from there we can transship to Canada..; I think the law says North of the Mason-Dixon line.
We are currently talking with a big importer in New York to bring Meyers to the US beginning in November. Look for the label shown here

This post was edited by Johnmerr on Thu, Sep 5, 13 at 12:28

Thanks for the info John. I appreciate it. I live in western NY. Hopefully I will find your lemons in the bigger cities. So far all I have ever found are bags of organic lemons for $5. There are usually 7-8 fruits in each bat but sometimes it will take me 2 fruits to make one glass of meyer lemonade!

Andrew

From my tree it usually only takes 12 Key Limes to make one pie. They may be small but they are juicy (specially if you let them mature to yellow). I often give small baskets of citrus away at Christmas and someone will always comment on how a dozen tiny limes isn't enough to do anything with and then I hand them the recipe for pie and explain that a dozen is all you need.

Though they are often mentioned as cold sensitive my one key lime tree has never suffered with my helter skelter methods of winterizing. I'm in zone 7b and now I have a greenhouse but even it can get pretty cold on a really cold night. And my tree is large, I've had it for years and years.

I follow all your messages Triangle John, because I also live in NC-at the foot of the Blue Ridge. Have you tried freezing your key limes before you juice them? I can get 3/4 cup of juice for key lime pie from 8 or 9 limes and I think they give up more juice after freezing and thawing. Nothing better than key lime pie! I was interested that you keep your key lime in the greenhouse over winter. I have been afraid to do that and keep mine in the house over winter but leave the Meyer lemon in the greenhouse where half of it froze one winter when the heat went off. Now I have a Buddha's Hand and am wondering where to keep it this winter.

Hey Triangle

I had to use 26 limes, most were fully ripe and a few were still green. mine are smaller than a golf ball closer to ping pong ball size a few a bit smaller. I have no reference if that is normal or not. I imagine as they get older and I get them into larger pots that they should be more productive. One tree is about 4-5 years old and the other is going on 3.

Mine also go into the greenhouse but we keep it at a minimum of 55 degrees F.

Mike