Makrut lime zest substitutes

The leaves of the same tree, carrying the same distinctive aromatic compounds, and stocked frozen by nearly every Asian grocer even where the fruit is impossible to buy.

Best for

red, green and massaman curry pastes, tom yum and tom kha, fish cakes and larb, coconut-based curries, sticky rice desserts

This is the only genuinely faithful substitute. The leaves are greener and more herbal, while the zest is higher-pitched and more resinous with a slight bitterness from the peel, so a curry paste made with leaves alone tastes a touch softer and less sharp. Strip out the tough central rib before pounding or you get fibrous threads in the paste.

A rebuilt approximation: the lime zest supplies the citrus peel oil and the lemongrass supplies the grassy-floral perfume that plain lime lacks.

Best for

homemade curry paste, marinades for grilled fish or chicken, coconut soups, dressings for Thai-style salads

The best answer you can build from a normal supermarket. It gets the brightness and a good part of the floral character, but it misses the piney, almost perfume-like top note that makrut is prized for, so the finished curry smells recognisably Thai rather than unmistakably so. Use only the pale tender core of the lemongrass stalk.

The Earl Grey citrus, and the closest common fruit to makrut in sheer perfume: floral, slightly bitter and far more aromatic than a lime.

Best for

curry pastes, syrups and infusions, delicate fish dishes, sorbet and desserts

Surprisingly effective, because it matches the perfumed quality that ordinary lime cannot. Use less than you think: bergamot tips into soapy and medicinal quickly, and it leans sweeter and more tea-like where makrut leans green and sharp. Only realistically available in winter.

The fallback everyone has, delivering citrus peel oil but none of makrut's floral or resinous complexity.

Best for

curries when nothing else is available, marinades, stir-fries, dipping sauces

Be clear-eyed about what this does: the dish will taste of lime, which is pleasant but flatter and simpler, more sour-smelling and less perfumed. In a green curry it is the difference between a good weeknight curry and one that smells like a Bangkok kitchen. Adding a teaspoon of lemongrass or two makrut leaves closes most of the gap.

A strongly lemon-scented leaf whose floral, slightly perfumed character sits in roughly the same aromatic neighbourhood.

Best for

coconut soups, syrups and poaching liquid, steamed or poached fish, iced tea and drinks

Works better in liquids than in a pounded paste, since the leaves go stringy rather than breaking down. It reads lemon-floral rather than lime-pine, so the dish shifts direction noticeably, but it is far more interesting than plain lime zest. Add it late; long cooking flattens it to hay.

Commercial red, green or massaman paste already contains makrut lime peel or leaf along with lemongrass, galangal and chillies.

Best for

weeknight curries, when you cannot source any single aromatic, soup bases

The pragmatic option when the recipe's whole point was a from-scratch paste you cannot source. Jarred pastes are saltier and often use shrimp paste, so cut the fish sauce and salt in the recipe and taste before seasoning. It will not taste as fresh or as green as a paste you pound yourself.