"There is a transition from being a luxury fruit only found in fine dining, to a more readily available fruit in retail outlets"

There are over 70 growers of fingerlimes in Australia ranging from small producers with a few hundred trees to larger growers with thousands of trees. It was estimated that over a hundred tonnes of fruit was produced by growers in 2020 and the industry has rapidly grown in the last four years and it would be reasonable to believe this has doubled. Depending on the variety and the climate, each tree can produce on average 8 kilograms of fruit.

"Fingerlimes are an endemic rainforest species found naturally in the border regions of south east Queensland and Northern New South Wales," said Jade King, Chair of the Australian Native Fingerlime Alliance (ANFA). "Commercial producers have successfully grown fingerlimes across Australia from the Tropics to the more temperate regions. Depending on the growing regions, fingerlimes main season is from January through to June."

Photo: ANFA

Jade is also a fingerlime grower and has just under 2000 trees in the subtropical Sunshine Coast, Queensland. She grows three different varieties, Red Champagne, Emerald and Chartreuse.

"We have growers in arid South Australian areas, Victoria's temperate region. Productivity and seasonality does vary with these regions. Greenhouses are not often used. They can produce year-round in the right conditions; however, they are very minimal between July to December."

Photo: ANFA

There is enormous diversity of native fingerlime varieties with over 30 varieties stocked in nurseries. They vary in peel thickness and colour, pearl colour and flavour, and fruit and tree size.

"Fingerlimes are increasing in availability, and there is a transition from being a luxury fruit only to be found in fine dining, to a more readily available fruit in retail outlets. All major markets across Australia have fingerlimes distributed to them. Fingerlimes are also exported both fresh and frozen depending on the countries protocols and Australian fingerlimes reach across Asia, Europe and the US. More than 50% of Australian fingerlimes are exported."

For more information:
Jade King
ANFA
[email protected]