Fresh Lychees

Posted July 3, 2008 * Comments(10)

Fresh Lychees

Lately, fresh lychees have started to pop up at the Asian grocery store. Beneath the red bumpy skin is a sweet, fragrant, juicy, translucent grape-like white fruit. If you’ve never tried them before, they’re quite the summertime treat.

Fresh lychees are so good as is, I’ve never been able to bring myself to actually use them in a recipe. They have a freshness that the canned version doesn’t quite capture. With such a short season (a few weeks) I must eat them before they’re all gone.

To eat, just stick a thumbnail in towards the top to break the skin (be careful not to squirt juice all over the place) and the rest of the skin should easily be peeled off. I like to eat them as I’m peeling them – watch out for the smooth, shiny, hard pit in the middle.

I also remember eating bags of dried lychees as a kid. Although I haven’t seen the dried lychees at any store for years. The whole lychee is dried with the skin on. When dried, the skin turns a cinnamon-brown color and becomes somewhat brittle and the inside becomes dark brown and raisin-like. They were mighty tasty and fun to eat too.

10 Comments so far

  1. Lisa (Show Me Vegan) on July 4th, 2008

    I’ve never seen these fresh, only canned! They sound refreshing.

  2. chow on July 6th, 2008

    Thanks Lisa, they are very refreshing!

  3. almost vegetarian on July 6th, 2008

    You know, lychees are one of those foods you forget about then, suddenly, you spot them at the grocery store or read about them in a recipe or see them in a picture and you know, you know, you simply must have them.

    So now, thanks to your pretty picture, I’ve simply got to get some. I wonder if my store even carries them. Oh dear!

    Cheers.

  4. chinchin on July 6th, 2008

    Fresh lychees are my favorite fruit! Nice photo!

  5. jessy on July 7th, 2008

    i’ve only had canned lychees before – but the fresh ones look so pretty & so much more awesome! now i’ve got to get to my asian grocery store. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

  6. chow on July 7th, 2008

    almost vegetarian – Yup, that’s me. I spot them in the store and then it’s “Oh, lychees! I’ve got to get some!”

    chinchin – One of my favorites too!

    jessy – Fresh lychees are amazing compared to canned. Hope you find some!

  7. Erin on July 8th, 2008

    I’ve never had lychees – fresh, canned or dried! I’ll have to keep an eye out.

  8. chow on July 9th, 2008

    Erin – Hope you find some, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. :-)

  9. jessy on July 10th, 2008

    i got some fresh lychees and i had a few last night – you’re so right – they’re awesome!

  10. chow on July 10th, 2008

    jessy – Glad you found some! I’ve got to get some more myself before they’re all gone. :-)

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