Yesterday marked another first for me in the food department.
I tried the Lychee fruit!
Covered by a leathery rind or pedicarp which is pink to strawberry-red in color and rough in texture. A greenish-yellow variety is not grown in California at present. Fruit shape is oval, heart-shaped or nearly round, 1 to 1-1/2 inches in length. The edible portion or aril is white, translucent, firm and juicy. The flavor is sweet, fragrant and delicious. Inside the aril is a seed that varies considerably in size. The most desirable varieties contain atrophied seeds which are called "chicken tongue". They are very small, up to 1/2 inch in length. Larger seeds vary between 1/2 to 1 inch in length and are plumper than the chicken tongues. There is also a distinction between the lychee that leaks juice when the skin is broken and the "dry and clean" varieties which are more desirable.
Let’s zoom in…so you will see where I am coming from…
Pardon my language but…W…T…F!
I opened it up and exclaimed to Eric, ‘Oh my God, it looks like BRAIN!!’
It was squishy, translucent, and rubbery feeling. Just like a brain!
I took a deep breath and tasted it. It was so disturbing biting into this fruit let me tell you, and I am usually not one who is bothered by any textures at all!
I was disappointed in the taste though. It was a bit ‘off’ tasting and left a weird after taste. I am wondering if this is because I had the yellow variety and not the deep pink? I will have to keep my eyes peeled for the pink variety and try those.
So what should I do with the 4 that remain? A martini? Throw it in my green montser? :)
Trying new foods is fun though! I never knew what the inside of this fruit looked like!
Have you ever tried a lychee fruit?
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We picked up some groceries yesterday since today is a holiday and the stores are closed.
I also picked up another new fruit- a yellow fig! I have never had a fig before (unless fig cookies count?) so this will be interesting too! :)
More organic kale because it looked fresh! :)
- 2 bags of red peppers (on 2 for $5!) Not organic though…
- 3 zucchinis (more boats!)
- 2 English cukes
- few organic apples
- organic tomatoes
- organic spinach
- organic free-trade coffee (for some new glo bars!)
- ripe bananas
- Country Harvest Flax bread (For Eric to make his lunch’s with)
- Nature’s Path Flax Plus (I think I should buy some stocks in NP!)
- 3 sweet potatoes (can’t wait to make more fries and NOT burn them this time!)
Eric got a pineapple and chopped it up. He saved the core for me and I have been putting it in my green monsters so we don’t have to throw it out. It’s kinda of nice because it isn’t sickly sweet, but still gives the GM some nice pineapple flavour!
Two new natural beauty products to review for Project Natural Glow!! They were both on sale. :)
Thank you for all of your helpful comments on my Project Natural Glow post!!! SO much great information! I have so many new product lines to check out.
In tonight’s post I will be outlining Project Natural Glow and I will be talking about these products in much more detail.
Sketchie says, ‘Have one crazy civic day!’
I’m back to the kitchen to bake, bake, bake!
I grew up eating lychees. They taste really good in ice cream as well as in cakes.
Weird! I have a yogurt that incorporates the flavour sitting in my fridge, but i havent seen the actual fruit anywhere.
Cute pic of sketchie! I can’t wait to read the reviews … i keep seeing the alba brand at whole foods so im curious about it. I have abba shampoo, and i keep getting the two brands confused, lol. but both organic. *shrug*
cool tip about pineapple core in the GM! Must try that next time i get fresh pineapple!
-muffy
I’ve only had lychees dried or as juice. They were super sweet dried. I liked them but could only eat a few. I hope you find a good use for them!
Lychees are BIZARRE. The first time I ate one I opened it up and said “It’s an alien egg!!! wuddufffuuuh???”
Haha.. and it was definitely strange in both texture and taste. I don’t know if I would buy them again. I purchased a container from Trader Joe’s and let my coworkers eat them all. Ha.
That lychee looks like some kind of sea creature. I’ve only ever had the canned variety, it’s a bit unnerving looking at it in the raw like that. LoL. Very cute pic of Sketchie! Happy baking!
I once had to disect a sheep’s brain, ever since I cannot eat cottage cheese, the brain felt and resembled cottage cheese.
Also lychees look dodgy but are gorgeous and sweet, I’ve never actually noticed they look strange, oops. Also figs rock although some do find the texture slightly strange.
You cat is so cute and adorable.
I spent a summer in China and ate lychees quite a few times. they’re one of the few things safe to buy off the street and eat because of their shell. They tasted great to me, but maybe that was because of the fun experience :)
i’ve been eating lychee since i was a wee tot – they are almost an acquired taste even though they are like water – like cucumbers! try them again…. i love the texture becauwse they are juicy. think of a cherry – if it was white you’d think it was brain like too!
try them again… i was a little shocked at your description cuz i have always loved them (but definitely took a bit of time to get used to it) and now i crave them!
i ate lychee ALL THE TIME while teaching abroad in thailand…my guess is maybe the fresh stuff tastes better than the stuff shipped halfway around the world? don’t know…maybe give it another shot? it’s YUMMY!
That lychee fruit looks like a tongue to me. It just looks gross…I’m not sure I could eat it either. But I LOVE the Sketchie pic!
I am NOT a fan of lychee, I have serious texture issues with it. I suggest a martini or green monster it, or you could try blending and freezing with the banana soft serve.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE lychee fruit. I used to eat them all the time when I lived in Europe. The one’s in North America are ok, not as delicious as the one’s I used to eat when I was younger. Honestly, I have never tried doing anything with Lychee except eating them raw lol. I don’t think you would really taste lychee if you put it in a GM.
haha i grew up with a lychee tree outside my bedroom window in Miami. never was a fan of them though!
my dad works in agriculture and one of his growers has a lychee tree so he brought me some branches. i had never had them before but they were awesome! i loved them! i keep asking for more but he’s runnin low =/ lol but they were deeeeelish!
I love Lychee fruit!
Thanks for showing what lychee is all about! I always pass it at the grocery store, consider, then chicken out :P I’d love to try fresh fig though, I love dried ones.
Definitely an odd fruit! I’ve never even heard of it before. It actually reminds me of a tulip haha! ;)
I totally vote for adding it to a green smoothie… maybe try freezing them beforehand too.
Great grocery load! I’ve never tried a fig either, so I’m excited to hear what you think.
xxoo
Heather
I grew up eating lychee so I never thought of it being a weird taste. Funny how that works. Maybe the one you got wasn’t sweet enough? You’ll have to give it another shot. Try the pink kind!
not for nothing but I’m not sure who I’m crushing on more – you, your blog, your food ideas, your husband, your cat – hee hee.. I will figure out how to upload a pic so you know who is stalking you, lol. You are inspiring me – Big Time! Thank you Thank You Thank You ~ =) I’ve been dieting and all but I’m so driven by your food ideas to step up the healthy eating not only for myself but for my children ~
Lychees are one of my favorite fruits, next to mangoes. If you like tropical fruits like pineapples, papaya, mangoes, then lychees should be up your alley too.