What is lychee fruit?
The lychee (Litchi chinensis) is an evergreen, up to 30 m tall tree with a dense, broad crown. The scattered, alternately arranged leaves are 12-25 cm long and rarely even or uneven. 4-8 leaflets are egg to lanceolate, acuminate, 6-15 cm long and 1.7 to 4 cm wide. They are thin-leathery, smooth-edged, glossy dark green on top and at the bottom gray green. The flowers grow in screen-like, branched, terminal, hanging up to 70 cm long inflorescences. The flowers have four yellowish or greenish sepals and no petals.
Tropical fruit is mainly imported from Madagascar, Mauritius, South Africa, Israel and Asia. The supply runs all year round, with a maximum in the period from late December to late February. This fruit is related to the rambutan (less juicy and sweet, solid), the Pulasan the Nephelium hypoleucum the Knippa, the Pitomba, longan and aki. These fruits belong to the soap tree family (Sapindaceae). The name is due to the alkaline substance, saponin, which can be recovered and can be processed into soap from the seeds. The fruits grow in clusters of 5 to 30 pieces of trees that can grow up to 20 meters. The origin of the lychee is in China.
The lychee is a round or oval shaped fruit of 3 to 5 cm in diameter, with a striking red skin. This feels somewhat leathery and slightly puckered. The flesh, the seed coat is translucent white, solid structure, and in the middle is an elongated brown pit. The fruit is juicy (spicy), sweet flavor, similar to the muscadine, and 'crack' somewhat when chewing. Lychees are also available in cans.
Lychees color during ripening pink red to reddish brown. They are picked ripe and can be eaten directly. The lychee can best be kept refrigerated in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator (max. 1 week shelf life). The hard shell of the lychee breaks under the pressure of a finger and / or nail and can then be removed from the pulp.
Nutritive value
Nutritional information per 100 grams:
- Energy: 332 kJ
- Calcium: 10 mg
- Protein: 0.9 g
- Vitamin B2: 0.05mg
- Carbohydrates: 18 g
- Vitamin C: 39 mg
- Iron: 0.35 mg