Life of Guangzhou - Know-hows about Lychee, Guangdong's Special Summer Fruit

Lychee (荔枝 in Chinese) is a sort of famous local fruit in Guangdong. It is a sweet and lovely summer treat.

As people have to wait for the lychees in Conghua, a lychee base in northern Guangzhou, to ripe and enter the market until the end of this month, a lychee festival kicks off today in Huangge, Nansha District in southern Guangzhou, for those who love this subtropical produce.

The food gala is held at the Lianxi Business Plaza in Huangge from June 19 to 27. People can take the metro line 4 to Huangge Auto Center stop. The venue is just next to the subway exit.

There are many kinds of lychees, including the following major ones:

Sweet Osmanthus Flavour (Gui Mei):

Named because of the Sweet Osmanthus flavour it contains, this lychee has light red shells, which contains sharp edges. The fruits are described as crispy and sweet. There is a related cultivar, called "Yatou Green" (yatoulü, 鴨頭綠). The shell of this cultivar has dark green spots.

'Glutinous Rice Ball' (Nuo Mi Ci):

Named after its thick fruit flesh and sweet (some described the taste as close to honey) flavours. The fresh red shells are not sharp and hard, and the seeds from this cultivar are noticeably smaller than others. Some fruits from this cultivar are seedless.

Huaizhi:

This lychee has larger fruit size, soft and juicy. Its seeds are also larger. The name Huaizhi, literally means "Branches [of fruit] in the arms of [a person]". This lychee supposedly received its name when a government official toured Lingnan (modern day Canton) and placed within his arms lychee branches gifted by local villagers.

Tips of selecting:

When buying lychee, pay attention to the connective base of the fruit. If there're small holes on it, it's probably bad and unhealthy.

Tips of keeping them freshly:

● Wrap the lychees up with newspapers, put them into ziplocks, and then store into a refrigerator. It works for about one week.

● For short-term storage, you can first cut off the long branches, and then put the fruit into plastic bags, making sure the package is well sealed.
You can even store in water the plastic bag with the fruit inside. After a few days, the fruit is still fresh in smell, color and taste.

(By Sophia Li)