Tasty Lychee Fruit

The lychee has a history and cultivation going back to 2000 BC according to records in China.Cultivation began in the area of southern China, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Wild trees still grow in parts of southern China and on Hainan Island. There are many stories of the fruit's use as a delicacy in the Chinese Imperial Court. It was first described and introduced to the West in 1656 by Michal Boym, a Polish Jesuit missionary . Fruits mature in 80–112 days, depending on climate, location, and cultivar. Fruits vary in shape from round to ovoid to heart shaped. The thin, tough inedible skin is green when immature, ripening to red or pink red, and is smooth or covered with small sharp protuberances. The skin turns brown and dry when left out after harvesting.

 The fleshy, edible portion of the fruit is an aril, surrounding one dark brown inedible seed that is 1 to 3.3 cm long and 0.6 to 1.2 cm wide.  Some cultivars produce a high percentage of fruits with shriveled aborted seeds known as 'chicken tongues'. These fruit typically have a higher price, due to having more edible flesh. Litchi chinensis is an evergreen tree that is frequently less than 15 m  tall, sometimes reaching more than 19 m .  The bark is grey-black, the branches a brownish-red. Leaves are 10 to 25 cm  or longer, with leaflets in 2-4 pairs. Litchee have a similar foliage to the Lauraceae family likely due to convergent evolution. They are adapted by developing leaves that repel water, and are called laurophyll or lauroid leaves. Flowers grow on a terminal inflorescence with many panicles on the current season's growth. Lychees have moderate amounts of polyphenols, shown in one French study to be higher than several other fruits analyzed, such as grapes and apples.  For phenolic composition, flavan-3-ol monomers and dimers were the major compounds representing about 87% of total polyphenols that declined in content during storage or browning.  

  

Cyanidin-3-glucoside represented 92% of total anthocyanins.  Lychee contains oligonol, a short-chain polyphenol under preliminary evaluation for its potential biological properties. The panicles grow in clusters of ten or more, reaching 10 to 40 cm  or longer, holding hundreds of small white, yellow, or green flowers that are distinctively fragrant. 

 

Lychees are commonly sold fresh in Asian markets, and in recent years, also widely in supermarkets worldwide. The red rind turns dark brown when the fruit is refrigerated, but the taste is not affected. It is also sold canned year-round. The fruit can be dried with the rind intact, at which point the flesh shrinks and darkens.  Dried lychees are often called lychee nuts, though they are not a real nut.