How to Eat a Lychee

Once stuck in the tropics, lychee have freed themselves to travel to most of the world. Most canned lychee fruits can be eaten right out of the container. A fresh lychee fruit easily beats its canned cousins in flavor, and only requires a few seconds of work to prepare.

Part 1
Part 1 of 2:

Eating Fresh Lychee

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    Choose a ripe lychee. Find a firm fruit, that gives a little when squeezed without collapsing or leaking. A relatively smooth skin is also a good sign, with slight bumps instead of major raised nubs.[1] Hard, unripe fruits are edible but won't have as strong a taste. A wet, soft fruit is overripe, and may be fermented (edible with a different, strong taste) or rotted (unpleasant). Crushed or soaked peels are almost always rotted.[2]
    • Different varieties have different skin colors, but most are red, orange, or yellowish when ripe. Brown fruits have usually gone bad.
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    Peel the end of the lychee. Grasp the nub of the stem and peel away the pink or yellowish-brown skin at one end. The white, semi-translucent flesh inside is the edible portion of the fruit. You may want to peel the fruit over a bowl to catch the dripping juice.
    • If the lychee has been left out a while, the skin will be harder and tougher to peel. Use your fingernail, teeth, or a knife to cut a slit. Soaking the fruit will make it easier to peel as well.[3]
    • Completely transparent flesh, mottled flesh, or yellow-brown flesh mean the lychee may be fermented or rotten.
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    Squeeze or tear off the skin. A perfectly ripe lychee has a soft skin that separates easily from the flesh. You can gently squeeze these fruits to pop out the flesh inside. If this doesn't work, just tear off the skin in small pieces using your fingers.[4]
    • The skin is inedible. Throw it away or compost it.
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    Dig out the seed. A large seed lies in the center of the fruit. Gently tear apart the flesh with your fingers, pick out the glossy brown seed, and discard it. The seed is slightly poisonous.
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    Eat the fruit. Fresh lychees have sweet, crisp, juicy flesh, with a signature scent that you can't find in the canned product. Enjoy it raw, or keep reading for more uses of this fruit.
    • A thin, brownish membrane lies on the interior of the flesh, where the seed was. Just eat this with the rest of the lychee. It adds a slight crunch without affecting the flavor. Removing it tends to squeeze out a lot of the tasty juice.[5]
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    Store extra fruit. Refrigerate lychee wrapped in a dry paper towel, inside a perforated plastic bag or a container with the lid left ajar. They can last up to a week this way, although the rind may turn brown and hard. Throw away the fruit if it turns grey.
    • If you can't eat them all within that time, freeze the rest whole and unpeeled, in a sealed zip-locked bag. Run warm water over the frozen lychee for 15 seconds, then peel and eat. Partially thawed lychee have a texture similar to sorbet.
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Part 2
Part 2 of 2:

Using Lychee in Recipes

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    Add to a fruit salad. This obvious option is perfect for summer. Because lychee lose juice rapidly when peeled, add them at the last minute.
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    Stuff the lychee. Carefully peel the lychee fruits and remove the seed, without tearing the flesh. Mix minced nuts, honey, and/or ginger into a soft cheese, such as cream cheese or chenna. Gently push open the lychee with your thumb, and fill with a small spoon or chopsticks.
    • You can even stuff the lychee with savory foods, such as a chicken stir fry. Make sure all ingredients are finely minced, and broil the lychees for 2–3 minutes after stuffing.
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    Garnish cocktails. Add a skewered, pitted lychee fruit to margaritas or other light cocktails. Or try something new with the lychee sake martini or novelty Mad Eye martini.
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    Chop up for a salsa. Soft, sweet lychee adds a bold dimension to spicy or sour salsas. Try a simple salsa of avocado, lychee, and red onion, with your salsa toppings of choice.[6]
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    Cook lychee in hot dishes. To make lychee chicken or another hot, savory dish, add the lychee to a stir fry or roasting pan just a couple minutes before the dish is done. Lychee pairs particularly well with cinnamon, ginger, or honey.
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Community Q&A
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    How can I use lychee in dishes?
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    Lychees make a perfect addition to a fruit salad and pair well with vanilla ice cream, a standard Chinese restaurant dessert choice. Lychees also taste great with cheese platters, and can even be stuffed with soft, creamy cheese for a tasty treat. Lychees can be preserved too, in condiments such as pickles, jams and preserves and they can be dried for longer preservation.
  • Question
    Can I use the lychee seed?
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    The seed is very astringent and is not meant to be consumed. In Chinese medicine, it has been used as an analgesic, as it is thought that it may have anti-tumor properties; however, this is yet to be proven and scientists are still investigating. In some parts of the world, the seeds are used like shampoo, due to their saponin content.
  • Question
    Can we grow lychee?
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    Yes, you can grow a lychee tree in your home garden, provided you can give the tree the right growing conditions. Lychee trees do well in warm, humid summers and cool winters that have low rainfall. They do not like coastal areas or salty soils. For more help with growing your own lychee tree, check out the wikiHow: How to Grow a Lychee Tree.
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Warnings

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Things You'll Need

  • A knife (optional)
  • Sink/napkin
  • A lychee

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References

  1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m8j3nY3I2c
  2. ↑ http://www.malcolmgin.com/blog/2011/08/08/how-to-eat-lychee-and-longan/
  3. ↑ http://www.malcolmgin.com/blog/2011/08/08/how-to-eat-lychee-and-longan/
  4. ↑ 4.04.1 Pijpers, Dick, Jac. G. Constant, and Kees Jansen. The Complete Book of Fruit. NY: Gallery Books, 1986.
  5. ↑ http://www.malcolmgin.com/blog/2011/08/08/how-to-eat-lychee-and-longan/
  6. ↑ http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128951468
  7. ↑ http://www.lycheesonline.com/findingfreshlychees.cfm
  8. ↑ http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/lychee.html

About This Article

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Co-authors: 22
Updated: March 29, 2019
Views: 428,429
Categories: Eating Techniques
Article SummaryX

To eat a fresh lychee, start by peeling away the pink or yellowish-brown skin at one end to expose the edible, white portion of the fruit. Next, squeeze or tear off the skin, and remove the seed before eating the fruit. If you want to use lychee in recipes, try adding them to a fruit salad. Alternatively, add chopped lychee to spicy or sour salsa for a bolder flavor. You can also try stuffing lychee with a mixture of cream cheese, nuts, and honey for a unique blend of textures and flavors. For more tips, like how to cook lychee in hot dishes, read on!

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