The kaffir lime (Citrus hystrix) is a citrus in the rue family, called makrut (มะกรูด) in Thai. Its knobbly rind is used alongside the leaves in cooking and in herbal care, and its aroma is stronger than that of lemon or lime, with a fresh, faintly bitter note.

Thai traditional medicine is said to have called it a herb that settles the flow of qi, and it is recorded as having been used at times of fever, headache, bad breath and digestive upset. PROSEA, the Plant Resources of South-East Asia project, records that it has been used for washing the hair.

In the Thai herbal sauna, op samun phrai, the rind is steamed and a citrus scent spreads through the room. In luk prakop, the cloth-wrapped herbal compress that is steamed and pressed to the body, one peer-reviewed recipe records the rind at about 5% of the mix.

This is an English summary. The full article was written in Japanese. Original article in Japanese →