One of the advantages of staying home during the holidays is being able to meet childhood friends who are visiting from out of town. Even better is when they come bearing gifts of seasonal goodies. To open the door and be handed a brown bag with plump, pink litchis sticking out is the best gift ever. The stalks were neatly tied together with sanal kayiru which somehow accentuated the prettiness of the fruit and the fresh leaves. It looked so good that they just had to be photographed before tasting.
When I turned to get my camera, my friend had already pulled a litchi off the stalk and had begun peeling it. We looked at each other and burst into laughter. That photo of that funny moment makes me smile even as I write this.
The photo shoot done, we sat down,the basket of litchis between us on the table and the next few minutes were spent in silence peeling the fruits and popping them into our mouths. When I went on and on about how fabulous they were, my friend commented, “you do know that your local supermarket has some fabulous litchis, don’t you?”
Some habits are hard to break. After years of being used to friends hand delivering fresh fruit grown around their home towns I had forgotten for a brief instant that our neighbourhood grocers are doing a stellar job of sourcing fresh fruit and vegetables from other parts of our country. So, yaay the litchis are in season and let’s make the best of it when we can.
Belonging to the soapberry family the litchi is the only member of it’s genus. Having it’s origins in China,it is now widely cultivated all across Asia and is well loved in desserts, cocktails and juices for it’s wonderful floral aroma and sweet taste.
Now for a bit of nutritional trivia on this fruit. Not only is it high on dietary fiber it contains Litchitannin A2, a compound that is has antiviral properties. It is also high in Vitamin C much like other summer fruits. A single serving of litchi fruit (one cup) offers more than 100% of the daily requirement of Vitamin C.
A lot of parents worry over the fact that their children are picky with fruit.
To be honest I didn’t like litchis either when I was a kid. But here’s the thing, my elders persevered. We were offered seasonal fruits, and while we weren’t reprimanded for not eating them, we were neither allowed to pick up a bag of chips instead.
