Blood Orange and Finger Lime Gin Martini

Add some citrus to your next cocktail! This simple gin martini is made with fresh blood orange juice and flavorful finger limes!  

Citrus season is one of those things that went completely unnoticed to me prior to living in California. With oranges, lemons and limes available year round and a few tangerines thrown into the mix, it never felt like there was a beginning and end to the selection. 

These days, things are different. My post autumn-pumpkin and holiday-gingerbread blues, are not so difficult to deal with anymore. Now, as we move into January and February, I hear trumpets in my head and a big round of applause as I walk into a supermarket or roam the farmers market. Ta da — it’s citrus season!

Thinking back there was probably much more citrus variety where we used to live than I give credit. I just wasn’t looking for it and it wasn’t so bold as to smack me in the face while food shopping. Now I am pleasantly assaulted by grapefruits, pomelos, tangerine hybrids, 3 kinds of lemons, limes and so much more. 

One of my favorites is the blood orange. What’s not to love? It looks completely familiar on the outside, maybe a little red-ish orange, but nothing that would raise any flags. Then you cut into it and boom — you see that deep red-purple color that also results in an equally pretty dark pink-red juice. 

I got a nice box of produce from Melissa’s Produce over the weekend and the fine folks there included some beautiful and tasty blood oranges. But not only that. They surprised me with — finger limes! If you are unfamiliar, finger limes are one of coolest little pieces of citrus you will encounter.

It’s an Australian fruit that is long and thin, about the size of your pinky finger. It’s has a tough green skin and it’s filled with tiny, perfectly round packets of juice. When you cut it in half and then squeeze the half between your fingers, tiny balls erupt from the inside and it looks just like caviar.

The aroma of the finger lime has hints of the kaffir lime to me, and the flavor of the juice is tart and strong.  Needless to say, they are so much fun to work with!

Since citrus juice is one of my favorite mixers to use with gin, I decided to make a blood orange martini that uses finger lime juice as well as a few floaters of the caviar in the glass. Some of the little balls will float, others will sink to the bottom, but either way you’ll have little pops of finger lime flavor while you sip the cocktail. Be sure to use a good quality gin with this one, the juice is meant enhance it, not cover it up, so the flavor of the gin will come through. 

Discloser: The citrus fruit used in this post was provided by Melissa’s Produce. 

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