Fruit of the Week: Lychee (fresh)

Name: Lychee

Brand: God made these

Place of Purchase: Laotian Festival in Des Moines, Iowa

Country/Region of Origin: Florida

 

Price in Iowa: $2.50 per pound

Description: Spikey, red and yellow-green ovoid fruits with a translucent, "dragon eye-style" drupe

Flavor: roses and peaches, with a lingering musky aftertaste

Aroma: peaches and roses

Texture/Mouth-feel: Firm, chewy, juicy

Notes: My Indian friend, Rahul, has informed me that my review of Litchi Juice would not have been an accurate representation of the lychee fruit itself.  So, when my wife brought me back  these beauties from a Laotian Water Festival (along with some fried quail and some sweet sausages) I was very pleased.


So, I let them sit overnight and cracked into them the next day.  The flavor was stronger than the juice.  I hadn't noticed the peach flavors in the juice.  It was just rosy and musky.  Could I eat a million of these fruits?  No, probably not.  But I could subsist on them as my sole source of sweetness.