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’m sorry about your lychee experience! It must have been a bad one. Ripe lychees are SO SO yummy, so I hope you give them another chance!
And LOL I’ve NEVER thought lychees looked like brain. hahahha. I usually thought they looked like huge white pearls, but I guess the ones I had were just smoother looking without bumps. Also, unfortunately, I’d be hesitant to eat them anywhere in North America. I can’t imagine them being ripe or good. They grow best in places like Thailand, Hong Kong .. hot tropical areas in Asia.
Oh yeah, also I think lychee sorbet would taste amazing. If you ever get some ripe/sweet ones, try freezing/blending them?
One more thing – sorry to keep commenting! I’ve had AMAZING lychee jellos before in Tokyo. LOL. They were the non-gelatin kind of jello too — made of konyaku instead. I have no idea how to MAKE that though, so this is kind of a useless suggestion!
Seriously, that thing does look like a brain! You are braver than me because I wouldn’t have eaten it. :)
Very smart use of the pineapple core. Way not to waste stuff!
Sketchie is hilarious! :)
Whoa..I have never seen/heard of that fruit before! How weird is that?!? I agree with you though…I love trying new foods!!
I’ve never had the yellow kind…but as a Filipina I can vouch for the fact that lychee is delicious!!
I’ve only had pink. . . very tasty.
My mother swears by Kiss My Face products. She likes their olive oil based washes and moisturizers. I find them hard to find, though.
The pictured yellow lychee above are actually not ripe. the deep red are ripe and usually has a bit more sweetness to them. I personally love lychee, as it brings back a lot of childhood memories.
Sorry for the double post, but I just read AGS comment and I must must agree! I LOVE Kiss My Face!! I’m currently using their sunscreen which is also all natural ingredient! Ah… so exciting, I don’t know why.
Thien An from delightinmoderation.blogspot.com
Somehow I think those Lychees don’t look as fresh and plump as the ones I’ve had (which are tastier). Best bet is to probably buy them at an Asian market where a lot of people buy them so they replenish the stock. I have to admit, they are a little odd tasting at times. It’s either all or nothing with Lychees
I just had Lychee at a WONDERFUL Japanese Restaurant. They serve them with dessert, sitting around the ice cream. They tasted SO AMAZING, I mostly ate the Lychee and a LITTLE of the ice cream :) They were smooth, opaque, and DELICIOUS! (Don’t know what color the outside skin was bc they came out ready to be eaten)
Lychees should be deep red or depend on their varieties
they should be really sweet and juicy
for the best lychees, you should go and find them in asian grocery stores
OMG, your cat looks freaky and haunted!
Other than that, looks healthy and yummy!
I LOVE lychee, but I think it’s something that grows on you? It’s fab in Martinis if you don’t like it “as is”, or put in in a fruit salad (or just with some strawberries).
Btw – you have such a cute cat! And extremely pretty, too!
I love lychees and have eaten them since I was a kid. I’ve always thought they were more like eyeballs than brains – just like peeled grapes. They’re good fresh when in season, but I also like them tinned the rest of the year. I can eat a whole tin in a sitting. A lot of Chinese restaurants here (Australia) also serve them with ice cream for dessert.
Since this is my first time commenting, I just wanted to let you that I really enjoy reading your blog. Thank you for posting so frequently :-).
I have never tried that fruit but it looks kinda scary, haha. I may have to keep an eye out for it though, sometimes things that look gross end up being my favorites ;-)
I’ve never tried a lychee and after the photo of the one you opened I probably never will. You were very brave to try it.
LOL@ you comparing lychee fruit to a brain… hahaha
I think maybe you got a bad one :( they’re normally quite sweet!
I tend to have them in martini’s… yummalicious I tell ya :D
Hi Angela!
I’ve never had the yellow kind, but it looks like the one you ate isn’t ripe or is too ripe… the flesh of the fruit should be plumper and not quite so withered, I think. I’ve only had the pink kind but it is DELICIOUS! I’ve eaten it since I was little (my family is Vietnamese), so I guess I’ve never really over thought it. :P It’s hard to get the good ripe ones where I live, but the canned ones are really good too. Like Sara said, the “real” way to eat them is to drain them, and pour them over ice to chill them (I don’t prefer them that way, I just throw a can in the fridge and eat ’em!) Hope that you try them again, and enjoy them :)
Also, I LOVE SKETCHIE!! He is just too adorable.