The Mexican candy, I've been craving it!
Slaked Lime: Calcium Oxide mixed with water Lime Water: Saturated water solution of calcium hydroxide Quick Lime: Calcium Oxide
What is a Key lime? Key limes are also known as Mexican lime and West Indies lime. Cultivated for thousands of years in the Indo-Malayan region, this variety has long been treasured for its fruit and decorative foliage. The Key lime made its way to North Africa and the Near East via Arabian traders, and then carried on to Palestine and Mediterranean Europe by the Crusaders. Columbus is credited with bringing the Key lime to Hispaniola (now known as Haiti), where it was carried on by Spanish settlers to Florida. Key limes are much smaller (ping-pong to golfball-sized) than Persian limes, nearly spherical, thin-skinned, and often contain a few seeds. Green key limes are actually immature fruits, prized for their acidity. As they ripen to a yellow color, the acid content diminishes greatly, resulting in a sweeter fruit. What is a Persian lime? Persian limes are also known as Tahiti limes. This variety has unknown origins but is suspected to be a hybrid of the Mexican lime and citron, a huge, yellow-green, lumpy lemon. Botanists believe this variety was introduced to the Mediterranean area via Persia (now known as Iran). It was carried to Brazil by Portuguese traders, and eventually made it to California in the latter half of the 1800s. Today, Florida is the largest grower of Persian limes, producing 90 percent of the U.S. crop, most of which is used for making fresh juice and canned or frozen juice concentrate. The Persian lime tree has no thorns and produces thicker-skinned fruit larger than the Key lime which keeps longer. These good traits make it a preferable commercial crop. The fruit is oval-shaped, about the same size as a lemon, with a vivid green peel which turns yellow when ripe.
Quick Lime is Calcium Oxide CaO. This is dry lime which has been heated in a kiln (furnace) to dry off any moisture. Slaked Lime is lime which has absorbed moisture from the air to become Calcium Hydroxide Ca(OH)2 The word slake refers to quenching of thirst. It this case the lime's thirst to absorb water. If Slaked Lime is heated in a kiln, water (H2O) is dried off and it becomes Quick Lime CaO again. Lime Water is Calcium Hydroxide dissolved in water. If Lime Water is exposed to Carbon Dioxide CO2 from the air or from one's breath, it reacts to form Calcium Carbonate CaCO3, which is a white solid powder which is not very soluble. The solution will turn milky white, and the CaCO3 powder may settle to the bottom.
