Processing lychees

Blair P. Houghton said:

Do they peel easily? How hard is it to get that pit out?
Are they all that good fresh, or is the syrup in the canned
ones the real secret?

Are you kidding? They peel very easily.
The very thin and brittle shell has almost
no adhesion to the flesh. The flesh has
almost no adhesion to the pit, making them
easy to pit, too.

They are very sweet and delicate fresh,
kind of like grapes.

Blair P. Houghton said:

So, if I were to get a bagful of fresh lychees from
the Asian megamart, what's the process for dealing with them?

Do they peel easily? How hard is it to get that pit out?
Are they all that good fresh, or is the syrup in the canned
ones the real secret?

--Blair

Blair, they peel very easily.
Just puncture with a fingernail and peel.
The pit is small and easy to ummm, express from the mouth.
I've never had canned so I can't give you a comparison, but if fresh,
sweet, juicy fruit is not appealing to you pass on them .

Koko
---
---
www.kokoscorner.typepad.com
updated 6/17

"There is no love more sincere than the love of food"
George Bernard Shaw

Mark Thorson said:

Blair P. Houghton said:

Do they peel easily? How hard is it to get that pit out?
Are they all that good fresh, or is the syrup in the canned
ones the real secret?

Are you kidding? They peel very easily.
The very thin and brittle shell has almost
no adhesion to the flesh. The flesh has
almost no adhesion to the pit, making them
easy to pit, too.

They are very sweet and delicate fresh,
kind of like grapes.

That was my thought, too, Mark. They peel easily and the texture is like
grapes. Eat them as you would with a grape that has a seed.

kili

Blair P. Houghton said:

So, if I were to get a bagful of fresh lychees from
the Asian megamart, what's the process for dealing with them?

Do they peel easily? How hard is it to get that pit out?
Are they all that good fresh, or is the syrup in the canned
ones the real secret?

--Blair

They are nowhere near as formidable as they look. They peel easily and
the pit also separates easily. They are tasty.

Koko said:

they peel very easily.
Just puncture with a fingernail and peel.
The pit is small and easy to ummm, express from the mouth.
I've never had canned so I can't give you a comparison, but if fresh,
sweet, juicy fruit is not appealing to you pass on them .

I don't find lychee has much flavor, it's more of a textural
experience. Unless you live where they are grown finding perfectly
ripe fresh lychee is hit and miss, the further from the source the
more miss. There is a very small window of opportunity for harvesting
lychee, too soon and they are astringent, too late and they are on
their way to being raisins. Once you've tried canned lychee you'll
never go back... just don't expect any big burst of flavor, just a
delicate hint of lilac, but like I said, it's all a textural
experience.... and it's not for everyone. I won't attempt to describe
the texture because it's indescribable... so if you're the sort who is
not comfortable with experiencing exquisitely orgasmic alien mouth
feel and then swallowing I suggest you pass canned lychee by.

Canned lychee is very nice atop vanilla ice cream.

Sheldon

Blair P. Houghton said:

So, if I were to get a bagful of fresh lychees from
the Asian megamart, what's the process for dealing with them?

The lighter skinned, pink ones are actually riper than the darker
blood-reds. Peeling is a non-issue as you'll find out.

-sw

In article <[email hidden]>, Koko

Quoted message said:

I've never had canned so I can't give you a comparison, but if fresh,
sweet, juicy fruit is not appealing to you pass on them .

Canned lychees are just as much like fresh lychees as canned
mandarin oranges are like fresh. IOW, they aren't. The texture
doesn't suffer that much, but the taste sure does. They taste
metallic and don't have the sweet counterpoint to the [censored].

sd