Kaffir lime leaves.

Bai makrut, also known in English as makrut lime leaves, look like two glossy leaves joined end to end. They're thick and a little stiff, dark green on top and paler underneath. Crush one in your hand and the kitchen fills with a sharp, clean citrus smell. Few Thai soups and curries go without them, though the leaf itself is tough and is usually pushed to the side of the bowl unless it's been cut very fine.

Ways to use it

• Tear a few leaves and drop them into tom yum or tom kha in the last minutes of cooking.
• Remove the centre vein and shred the leaf as fine as thread, then scatter it over panaeng curry.
• Mix finely shredded leaf into the paste for tod man pla, the fried fish cakes.
• Add torn leaves to green or red curry and to stir fries made with curry paste.
• Fry whole leaves in hot oil for a few seconds until crisp, then crumble over rice or a yum salad.

Tearing or twisting the leaf before it goes in the pot releases more of the scent.

Storing it

Keep the leaves in a plastic bag in the fridge drawer and use them within a few days. For longer, freeze them flat in a sealed bag and take out what you need, since they go straight into the pot from frozen. Rinse them under running water just before use.

Where it comes from

Grown to certified organic standards. The certificate for each lot is shown when you trace your pack.

Every pack will carry a lot code. Enter it on the Trace your pack page and you will see the farms in that lot, the harvest date and the certificate.