Fruit Tree of the Day: Lychee
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In yesterday’s Fruit Tree of the Day post, we learned that a Chinese bacteria is wiping out the citrus industry in Florida. The reason the disease originated there is citrus trees originated there too. It turns out south China has a nearly identical climate to Florida, so pretty much anything that can be grown there can be grown here too. The Chinese appreciate Lychees like we do peaches: They’re delicious when picked local, but are just meh when shipped, since they have to be picked early and get bruised easily. I live in the Tampa Bay area, and even when shipped here from Miami, lots of lychees taste like an off-season peach–you know it can taste better, and it’s just depressing when it doesn’t. Legend has it that an ancient Chinese emperor set up something like the pony express just to bring him fresh lychees as quickly as possible.
So, this is a great thing to grow yourself to get the best taste. Also, just look at them; they’re beautiful to boot!
I don’t know how to explain the taste besides “delicious.” They don’t really taste like more familiar fruits. Asian stores near you may carry canned lychees, or when in-season in Florida, (June) you may find fresh lychees in those stores. Just remember it tastes much better when picked straight off the tree, and tastes 3x better than canned ones. They’re also a little more tart and not overwhelmingly sweet like canned lychees tend to be.
The only bad thing about them is they’re unreliable bearers–some varieties only bear 1 out of every 2 (or sometimes 3) years. So if you really want lychees, get two trees of different types so that if one doesn’t bear, the other one will.
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Thanks for telling us about how awesome they taste in season (June) now that they’re not (September).
Somebody should get blamed for that.
EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!
@mike808 You’re right. I should blame @ed. He’s my scapegoat this month.
@Ed @mike808 @Weboh It was definitely @Ed.
@mike808 @PocketBrain @Weboh Absolutely @Ed.
Makes me think of Crunch Berries (though in the olden days when there were only red ones)
@ybmuG
Wait a min crunchberrys are more then one color now! What is going on with cap’n crunch? I haven’t had those since I was a kid, I buy peanut butter Cap’n Crunch.
@Star2236 I know - it ain’t right…
@Star2236 @ybmuG International Pirate Month was LAST month.
Those leeches look so pretty. I remember seeing them in the store in Florida once but didn’t know what they were. I’m gonna look for some in a can to try them.
@Star2236
/image leeches
/image lychee
Yeah, pretty close
@ybmuG
Spellcheck for you lol
It’s been a year since I’ve had a fresh lychee.
The local nursery had a fruit bonanza where they let you taste fruits of all kinds. It was awesome. They had these tables covered with ice and plates and plates of sliced up fruits. I probably tried about twenty different varieties of mangoes that day. Not only did they have lychees, they had longans, rambutans, jackfruit, I can’t even remember the rest. It was cancelled this year.
VAN MURALS! GROUND SQUIRRELS! SPIT CURLS! AWESOME!
Also:
https://meh.com/forum/topics/random-drink-reviews-from-the-asian-market#5f49248e01f37809f4869882
@RiotDemon I was re-reading your thread and we need to start a new random drinks tried thread…I had some pre-made teas that I picked up in an Asian grocery store awhile back…amazing…I haven’t gone to get boba tea in forever…my favorite flavor was grapefruit green tea…good times…I may need a trip to Tapioca House today…they have great dumplings too…
how off topic am i? I want fruit trees now for my backyard too…
@amehzinggrace and now I want dumplings!
Is this your tree in the photo?
@RiotDemon No, it’s a random picture I found online. My neighbor has a huge one–probably twice that size. It grew in a perfect umbrella shape like that, too. It seems all lychee trees do.
Found these in the store yesterday, there supposed to taste like lychee
@Star2236 Yeah, kind of! Rambutans taste more pear-like, and have their own unique flavor, but it’s probably as close to lychee as you can get without actually having a lychee.
Would these grow in Dallas? Would rambutans?
@Tadlem43 Not outdoors–it gets too cold there for either. Lychee needs the same climate as citrus, so you’d need to be in at least zone 9; Dallas is in zone 8. The first freeze would kill them.
If you have enough determination, it may be doable. You’d have to use a greenhouse or plant it in a pot and move it indoors during the winter. Though lychees actually need cold temperatures to fruit; it just can’t go below freezing. Lots of things to consider, but people have done it. You can run a search or create an account at tropicalfruitforum.com and see what other people have done.
Rambutan definitely won’t work. It’s a tropical plant, so temperatures in the 40s kill it and temperatures in the 60s make it stop growing.
@Weboh Bummer! Thanks for the info!