Lime super juice is the same trick as Lemon Super Juice with one important difference: limes have a more complex acid profile than lemons, and rebuilding it requires two acids, not one. The reward is the same — one lime's juice stretches into five, with peel oils captured and pH matched, and the result drinks remarkably close to fresh.
The Lime Difference
Where lemons are about 95% citric acid, limes are roughly two parts citric to one part malic — the same acid that gives apples their tartness. Use citric alone on a lime, and the result tastes a little flat and a little wrong; the sourness lands without the lift. Adding malic in a 2 : 1 ratio (citric : malic, equal to peel weight total) restores the natural lime character.
This insight comes from Dave Arnold's work in Liquid Intelligence (W. W. Norton, 2014), which catalogues the acid composition of common citrus. The bartender-scale form below — peel maceration plus dry acid plus water — was popularized by Nickle Morris of Expo Cocktail Bar (Louisville, KY) around 2020, with the clean ratios documented by Kevin Kos.
The Workflow
Lime super juice runs the same direction as lemon's: peel weight is the variable that drives everything. Zest your limes. Juice the peeled fruit. Weigh the peel, measure the juice, and the calculator derives the acid and water for what you actually got. The natural juice is mandatory — pouring the peeled fruit's juice in is the whole reason this is a citrus stretch and not a chemistry exercise.
Sourcing the Acids
Both citric acid and malic acid are food-grade and inexpensive online or at home-brew shops; a small bag of each will make many batches. Buy fine-grain powder (not granular), which dissolves cleanly. Lactic acid is sometimes added too for an even closer match to fresh, but it is a refinement, not a requirement.
Storage and Limits
Refrigerated, lime super juice keeps two to three weeks. The peel oils fade first; after two weeks the result starts to taste more like sweetened-acid water and less like fresh lime. For a Daiquiri made for two, you still want a fresh lime. For a Margarita pitcher or a Mojito service for a crowd, super juice is the only sensible answer.
Bottom Line
The lime version is slightly more involved than the lemon one — one extra ingredient, one extra weighing — and slightly more impressive when it works. If you only stock one super juice, make this one; lime is the one most cocktail recipes need and the one that goes off fastest in the fridge.