Lychees are best eaten fresh.
Peel with fingers, then nibble or suck the flesh from the seed.
They make a refreshing end to a meal.
Lychees can be pitted and added to fruit salads or used in sweet and sour dishes and salads. They make a tasty accompaniment to pork and duck.
Here are some recipes featuring lychees
Availability November to February.
The lychee (Litchi chinensis) is a subtropical fruit. It is oval to round in shape and about the size of a walnut. Its thin, red bumpy skin is easily peeled to reveal a white, juicy, translucent ball of firm jelly-like flesh that surrounds a shiny brown seed.
Lychees are berries and are produced on tropical evergreen trees. The trees are attractive with shiny, leathery green leaves and long sprays of green, white or yellow flowers. After a few months, the sprays of flowers become bunches of fruit.
Once ripe, the bunches of fruit are harvested by hand.
After harvest, fruit are graded and packed, ready for delivery.
Australian Lychee Growers Association — representing Australian lychee growers