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How Long Do Limes Last Before They Go Bad?

When it comes to limes, some people hesitate about whether they’re still good for consumption or already going bad. We’ve all been there before, stocking up on too many limes for your special mojito party. Do you want a mojito 3 weeks later? How long do limes last before they go bad?

It’s quite simple: unrefrigerated and uncut (whole) limes will last up to 1 week in the pantry and up to 1 month (4 weeks) when stored in the refrigerator. When the limes are cut, they’re good for up to 4 days.

In this article, we will dive deeper on the shelf life, storage, and spoilage of your limes.

Enjoy the read

What Are Limes

Limes belong to the family of citrus fruits and can be easily recognized by their green color and oval shape. They can be used for a lot of purposes: drinking lime juice, drinking desperados, salad dressings, butter, and so on…

Limes are grown in warmer countries like Mexico. Freshly squeezed lime juice can make a great difference in your foods and drinks.

How Long Do Limes Last

As always, we will start with a quick table for your convenience:

LimesRoom temperaturePantryRefrigerator
Unrefrigerated and Uncut (Whole)Up to 1 week (7 days)Up to 2 weeks (14 days)/
Unrefrigerated and Cut (Pieces)Less than 1 day1 day/
Refrigerated and Uncut (Whole)//Up to 1 month
Refrigerated and Cut (Pieces)//Up to 4 days
Indicative timetable of how long limes can last before going bad. Always look for spoilage signs!

You’ll see we keep things quite simple and talk about whether they’re unrefrigerated or not and if they’re whole or cut.

Before we dive deeper into the shelf life, just know that you can make it yourself a lot easier by selecting the right limes at the store or market. We will cover this more in-depth in our chapter about how to look for spoilage signs. The same goes for other fruits like oranges, lemons, and so on.

It’s obvious that storing limes in the refrigerator will let them last longer and whole limes will be less vulnerable to classic external threats like heat, air, bacteria, and so on…

First, we will talk about uncut and thus whole limes.

How Long Do Unrefrigerated Uncut Limes Last

It makes sense that when you don’t refrigerate your fruit, it will spoil faster. If you’re not consuming it within a day or 2, just don’t let them sit out in the fruit basket.

Your limes will last at room temperature for up to 1 week (7 days) and up to 2 weeks (14 days) in the pantry.

When you’re going to refrigerate them, they will last longer.

How Long Do Refrigerated Uncut Limes Last

When whole and uncut limes are stored in the refrigerator, they will last up to 1 month. Some will last longer, some won’t.

We always say it doesn’t hurt to develop a habit to store your fruits in a separate (mostly built-in) container for quality reasons and gives you more possibilities.

How Long Do Unrefrigerated Cut Limes Last

These won’t last very long and you should simply avoid doing this. They won’t last a day! They won’t be great in taste anymore and will dry out. When I eat limes, I always associate them with freshness and a lot of juice.

I would toss them a day after they’ve sat out, be it at room temperature or in the pantry.

How Long Do Refrigerated Cut Limes Last

Cut limes are more vulnerable to external threats like heat, air, moisture, sunlight, bacteria, and so on… They will last, when stored properly, for up to 4 days in the fridge.

Try to finish the cut limes within a day or 2 if possible.

How To Store Limes

As we’ve said above, you can store your limes in the best way possible, if you’ve bought “bad” limes, you won’t reach the general periods given in the last chapter. So be thoughtful about this.

Here, we will follow the same sequence as before and start with the unrefrigerated uncut limes.

How To Store Unrefrigerated Uncut Limes

We don’t advise storing your whole limes in the basket if you already know you won’t be able to use them all in the next 2 days.

You can however store them in the pantry, or another cool and dark place like the dark corner of your garage. They should be safely hidden away from external threats like heat, direct sunlight, bacteria, and so on.

If you have the space in your refrigerator, I should consider storing your whole limes in there.

How To Store Refrigerated Uncut Limes

This one is quite obvious as you should place them in your fridge. Most of the fridges will have a built-in storage container for fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables need a colder environment.

Things are more delicate when your limes are cut.

How To Store Unrefrigerated Cut Limes

You shouldn’t think about storing them, try to consume them within the day as the longer they sit out at room temperature, the more they will dry out and my guess is you won’t eat dried fruits.

You can always squeeze them for juice and freeze them as ice cubes for the next summer.

Try to develop a routine of storing unused fruit pieces in the refrigerator.

How To Store Refrigerated Cut Limes

Cut Limes are not as protected as other limes and need to be packed and sealed tight. We don’t want to let our limes go bad right?

When storing the lime pieces, just try to pack them in an airtight container or a plastic bag (or even 2 bags and thus double-bagging them).

It’s important they won’t dry out so you’ll need to protect them from the air when sealed tight. That’s why a plastic bag might be great because you’ll be able to squeeze out the air before sealing it.

If you don’t have any place left in your fridge or you want to store them for a longer period, you could always consider freezing your limes.

Can You Freeze Limes

Yes, you can always opt for freezing your limes. But as always, we say: should you?

We on GoodOrGoneBad say that the freezing capacity isn’t endless and you need to think about what you can freeze and for how long.

Freezing limes will prolong their shelf life, but also reduce the possibilities of what you can do with them.

Try to do the following when you’re about to freeze your limes:

  • Divide them into single-serve portions
  • Pack them in 1 or 2 plastic freezer bags (double-bagging them)
  • Label the bags or containers with the correct date and time of freezing.
  • Place the pieces into the freezer

When you’re about to use your frozen limes, let them thaw and rest in the refrigerator.

You can always squeeze your limes for fresh lime juice and freeze them in simple ice cubes. We know this might require some work on your part but you’ll be glad when you see your kids sipping from that glass of water with some ice cubes of lime juice in the summer!

How Can You Tell If Your Limes Have Gone Bad

As we’ve said before in this article, we will talk first about how you can buy the best limes at the market or store, so you can get the most out of them. It’s always to be equipped with the right knowledge from the start right?

What Limes Should I Buy At The Store

When buying limes, you can make it yourself easier and enjoy this great fruit, full a bit longer by using the following tips:

  • Look at the color: do you see some other colors?
  • No softer spots, your limes should feel strong.
  • No bruises or cuts or anything like this. Of course, the bruise could be from falling down.

That’s about it. The color should be the same, if not, get some other limes that look the same. By looking the same, we don’t mean a browner color, that’s bad news!

Of course, you could try to negotiate and aim for a lower price, but that’s not something we will talk about here.

How To Tell If Your Limes Have Gone Bad

Detecting spoilage signs of your limes starts by trusting your senses and developing your senses and intuition. Luckily, for limes, it isn’t all that hard, as with most foods and fruits out there.

Use the following guidelines when it comes to limes and spoilage:

  1. Do the limes have colored spots? This is a sign it has suffered some things and could already be bad. However small colored spots can also be caused by falling down. Are there a lot of them? Simply discard them. Be aware of mold!
  2. Look and touch the lime. Does it feel soft? Is it dried out? Then the best is gone and the rest should be discarded.
  3. Do the limes have a weird smell? If you smell something funny or unpleasant, discard it away. A nice smell is an indication of freshness and quality, as it should be.
  4. How is the taste? The last step is the taste. Go and apply the previous steps. Just be honest with yourself, when the lime doesn’t taste like lime, I’d discard it.

It is always up to you to decide if you’ll eat or use a lime that isn’t at its peak anymore. The taste won’t be bad but that doesn’t mean you should’ve eaten it. We on GoodOrGoneBad always say to not take any risks. You can easily buy a new and fresh lime and avoid the risks that can affect your health and well-being.

Enjoy your limes!