Lychee is a popular fruit in Asia, especially in China, which is a small fruit of a tree of the Sapindaceae family with a hard skin and translucent soft flesh. In Russia, lychees began to be sold recently and still raise questions: how to choose it, how to eat it correctly.
Lychee
Lychee is one of the many names for the fruit of the Sapindaceae family: they are also called "foxes", "liji", "laysi" or "Chinese plum". But these small fruits are not at all similar in color, size, or taste to a plum. Oval fruits up to 4 centimeters long are covered with a hard red skin with small sharp tubercles. The peel is easily separated from the pulp, which has a jelly-like consistency.
The taste of lychee is difficult to describe, it is often compared to grapes, but in fact, their similarity is limited to almost the same consistency, although some find a taste of wine in these exotic fruits. Unripe lychees knit a little, and ripe lychees have a rich sweet taste with a sour tint. Inside the fruit is a small bone that looks like horse chestnut seeds.
How to choose and eat lychees?
Lychee for the inhabitants of Russia is too exotic a product to be able to determine their freshness or ripeness by their appearance. When buying Chinese plums, pay attention to their color: it should be red or pink, not white and without spots. Also, there should be no strong dents or scratches on the peel. If the peel is dark, this means that the fruit has been lying for about a couple of weeks. The taste of this almost does not change, but it will not be possible to store such fruits for a long time, since their shelf life is two to three weeks. You need to store lychees in the refrigerator, at room temperature they deteriorate faster.
You can peel the lychee from the peel with your fingers, as it is thin and easily torn, but it is easier to do this with a knife, cutting the fruit lengthwise. Now you can either remove the pit and eat the pulp, or eat it from all sides, like a peach or nectarine. But the second option is inconvenient, since the fruits are very small.
For the first time, do not eat a lot of lychee at once, try a few fruits and watch your body. Some people may be allergic to an exotic fruit, while others have digestive problems from habit. It is also advisable not to eat anything one to two hours before eating lychee, this can cause fermentation in the stomach.
This fruit has a number of beneficial properties: it treats ulcers, diabetes, gastritis, diseases of the pancreas and liver, cardiovascular diseases. It contains vitamins and minerals in proportions that are ideal for humans. In addition, in China, lychee is believed to be a good aphrodisiac, and many Asian girls use it for weight loss.
