Limes limes everywhere!

Coca-Cola is introducing Diet Coke with Lime. The marketing verbiage promises “a taste that blends contemporary sophistication with familiar refreshment.” Diet Coke with Lemon is being reformulated with a lighter lemon flavor.

The N.Y. Times reports on changes in the U.S. lime industry as Mexican imports dominate the market. Florida trees were ravaged by Hurricane Andrew and destroyed to prevent the spread of canker disease. 200 acres remain of the previous 6,700. 98% of the lime market is imported. But there are small growers of exotic varieties doing well selling to farmer’s markets and gourmet buyers. Demand is rising for kaffir limes and their leaves and finger limes.

And have you heard about the limequat? It’s a lime and kumquat hybrid, advertised as tasting exactly like a key lime. Back in my little citrus-unfriendly climate, the lime tree I brought up from California dropped all its tiny fruit but then decided to bloom again last week. The Meyer Lemon tree dropped all its fruit save for one, which is expanding at a rapid pace.