Lychee

The Lychee is a tropical fruit about the size of a ping pong ball. The fruit is covered in a rough, pink-to-red-colored rind. The rind is thin and brittle, and is easily peeled from the fruit. Each fruit contains a single glossy brown seed which is inedible. The seed is covered by a layer of whitish translucent, sweet flesh. The flesh has a mild flavor and a similar consistency to a grape. Depending on the variety of lychee and its growing conditions, the seed inside may be large and oval-shaped, or small, thin, and somewhat triangular. These smaller seeds are known as "chicken tongues", and are desirable because their small size allows a greater amount of flesh per fruit.http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/lychee.html

The lychee is native to southern China, but is also found in India, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/lychee.html Although major production of lychees occurs in China and Southeast Asia, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Mexico and the United States have all began growing the lychee in regions that have more humidity and rainfall.http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/lychee.html

Lychees are eaten fresh or canned and are a dominant fruit in Asian cooking.

When in season, fresh lychees may be found in some grocery stores, most frequently in specialty stores like Asian markets.http://sarasota.extension.ufl.edu/FCS/FlaFoodFare/Lychee.pdf When selecting lychees, avoid those with green skins, as they are unripe. Lychees do not ripen after they have been picked. Look for lychees with bright pink-to-red skins. Dull or brown colored lychees are usually not as fresh.http://www.yale.edu/marshgardens/documents/071010.pdf

Lychees are also available canned, dried, or frozen.http://ceventura.ucdavis.edu/Agriculture265/Lychee.htm

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• Calorie Count: Lychee Nutritional Information

• Destinaton Tropicals: All About Lychee

• Perdue Center for New Crops & Plant Products: Lychee

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