Lychees

He loves the feel of them in their scaly pinkish-red skin before the fleshy white interior is extracted and the pip removed. While they are a bit fiddly, my efforts seem worthwhile as he loves to pop them in his mouth, then drink the juice that is left in the bowl.

For adults, they are brilliant on ice cream or add a slightly sweet texture to savoury dishes.

Introduced in the 1870s by Chinese goldminers, the lychee is now widely grown in Australia, and this year is a bumper season. Early-season fruit comes from north Queensland before the harvest moves down the coast to northern NSW by mid-March. Lychees are picked, packed and refrigerated before being sent straight to market.

Choose fruit with skin that is pink or red.

Greenish fruit is under-ripe, while brown fruit is over-ripe. They can be frozen for up to six months or dried within their shells. Fresh lychees can be wrapped in plastic and stored in the fridge, for five to seven days and may be kept at room temperature for two or three days.

Source

Taste.com.au — March 2012

Author

Grant Jones