Kaffir Lime leaves for resellers

Cuisine  - The zest of the fruit is used in creole cuisine to impart flavor in "arranged" rums in the Martinique, Réunion island and Madagascar. However, it is the hourglass-shaped leaves (comprising the leaf blade plus a flattened, leaf-like leaf-stalk or petiole) that are used most often in cooking. They can be used fresh or dried, and can be stored frozen. The leaves are widely used in Thai and Lao cuisine (for dishes such as tom yum), and Cambodian cuisine (for the base paste "Krueng"). The kaffir lime leaves are a very popular spice in Thai­land; their charac­teristic flavour ap­pears in soups, stir-fries or curries (see coconut for a list of other in­gre­dients to Thai curries). In Thai cuisine, kaffir lime is frequently combined with garlic, galanga, ginger and fingerroot, together with liberal amount of chiles. Fresh Thai basil is needed for the authentic fragrance.

Makrut lime leaves are used in Vietnamese cuisine with chicken to add fragrance. They are also used when steaming snails to decrease the pungent odor while cooking. The leaves are also used in Indonesian cuisine (especially Balinese cuisine and Javanese cuisine), for foods such as Soto ayam, and are used along with Indonesian bay leaf for chicken and fish. They are also found in Malaysian and Burmese cuisines. The juice is generally regarded as too acidic to use in food preparation. 
 
The juice and rinds are used in traditional medicine in some Asian countries; the fruit's juice is often used in shampoos. The juice finds use as a cleanser for clothing and hair in Thailand and very occasionally in Cambodia.

When I first fell in love with gardening, my biggest seducer was herbs. I found herbs to be not only one of the easiest types of plants to grow, but they were also the most fun to create a garden with - not to mention the most versatile group of plants out there.

Among the tremendous species of herbs from which I could choose, basil (Ocimum basilicum) was one of my favorites to experiment with. I found that not only was basil easy to grow and handy for the kitchen, but storing and propagating basil was a snap.