TROPICAL TASTE - Life is just a bowl of... Lychee?

As you drive around our neck of the woods, you can't help but notice that lychee trees in neighborhood yards are loaded with fruit this year.  A very popular fruit with most everyone in Hawaii, the lychee heralds summer and is a harbinger of picnics, days at the beach and July 4th celebrations.

The lychee is a medium sized evergreen tropical fruit tree native to southern China and related to the soapberry.    The individual blooms are quite insignificant, but when in full bloom and from a distance, the tree looks like it is lightly covered in a lace veil.

 Lychee tree loaded with clusters of fruit.

 Pronounced Lie-Chee and not Lee-Chee, contrary to belief, it is a berry-like fruit and not a nut.   The dried fruit is known, mistakenly, as lychee nut.

The lychee is a 'drupe', or fruit that contains a "stone".  A few other fruits known as drupes are coffee, mangoes, peaches, apricots, jujubes, olives, dates and coconuts. 

The outer layer is a thick, coarse, redish shell type rind which is easily 'popped' with your nails or teeth to reveal the juicy fruit inside.  The flesh of the fuit is rich in potassium and Vitamin C, light beige or rosy pink in color, slightly translucent and musilagenous and the scent and taste are slightly 'perfumey' reminiscent of a combination of violets, lilacs and roses.

The seed or stone is hard, shiny black or dark bown and can be poisonous.  The fruit is eaten by working the flesh off the seeds with your teeth and then discarding the seed.

 Becky picking some lychees for us to take home!

We recently visited our friend Becky who owns a lychee grove not too far from us.  Sitting at an elevation of about 1200 feet, her farm is beautiful, commands a gorgeous view and is away from the hustle and bustle of the everyday world.

 Luscious, juicy and bursting with flavor, a lychee ready to pop in your mouth!

In other parts of the mainland life can be a bowl of cherries this time of year, but in Hawaii.....

Life is just a bowl of .......Lychees!

 Tough, leatherly and peebly skin pops open to a smooth aromatic and juicy flesh.

 It can be eaten fresh, in salads, desserts and ices.  It can be found bottled, canned or sometimes frozen in Asian markets.

Lime and Lychee Ice

1 pound fresh lychee, peeled and seeded

Juice of one lime

3/4 cup powdered sugar

Place all ingredients in a blender or processor and process until well blended and smooth. 

If you have an ice cream maker, process as you would any other fruit ice and acoording to the manufacturer's instructions.  Otherwise, pour into a container suitable for freezing and freeze until slushy, beat well and refreeze.  Repeat this step twice, then freeze until solid.

Serve by small scoops in a martini glass and garnish with a fresh slice of mango or other tropical fruit.

Can also be served in between courses as a light and refreshing palate cleanser.

		Sonia Martinez, Gather Food Correspondent
	Sonia's column, 'Tropical Taste' is a regular twice-monthly feature of Gather Essentials: Food. Sonia is a cookbook author and freelance food writer for several publications in Hawaii, and is also a Hawaii Island Journal restaurant reviewer in partnership with her son Anthony Mathis.  She lives in a beautiful rural rainforest area on the Big Island of Hawaii. You can keep up with Sonia's adventures and ongoing love affair with Hawaii by joining her network, or visiting her food & garden blog at Sonia Tastes Hawaii.