28.1.11

Litchi!

My new favorite winter fruit is the litchi (usually spelled lychee in the U.S. of A., I believe).  These pink bombs of fruity deliciousness, indigenous to China, are extremely popular in France. 


They are pretty bizarre, as fruit goes.  The "skin" of the fruit is a dusty-pink/brown hard shell that must be cracked and peeled in order to eat a litchi, kind of like a hard-boiled egg.  The meat of the fruit is white, slightly translucent, and is approximately the consistency of a rare steak.  There is a large, dark brown, shiny seed in the center of the fruit that looks like one of those fancy pebbles used for landscaping. 


Since I've done such an abysmally unappetizing job of describing litchis so far, I won't attempt to describe their flavor beyond "sweet, with a little something unexpected."  I like them well enough to have had a carton of them for lunch today, anyway.


Try them - they're de-litch-ous!
Maria

P.S. Russian doll photo sequence stolen from a "euro-caribbean blog."

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