Raw Lychee

I need you all to trust me that I’m starting the week with lychee in its purest form and that is remotely untouched. I promise the second half is something good so hang around for that.

Untouched lychee fruit would just be the red berry and taking a bite out of it somehow, which I’m sure countless have tried to discover the skin is a bumpy wrap that reminds me of the world’s thinnest citrus rind. It doesn’t have that citrus scent but it has to be related to that family somewhat because just like when I peel an orange, I get it everywhere. I was washing my hands after every other one.

Getting them started before peeling is a bit more difficult than I anticipated, I had to start at the top with most of them and not dig in too much because the skin is so thin (but tough!) and not lose any juices.

Now, I don’t know about all of y’all, but scent is like the one sense I have that is really on point and most of my opinions come down to how something smells. When I opened up the bag, the lychees were fragrant. It almost sort of smelled like vinegar but I think that was just some of the juices that may have oozed out during shipping and dried up and what have you so I transferred them a container in my fridge and that smell toned down.

When you eat one of these though, it has a flowery taste to it. My mom described it as when you get shampoo in your mouth so I think she had more of a chemical taste maybe. It’s an odd first taste so you eat more and you get a feel for it and the aftertaste is like a perfume of sweetness but has a very very subtle tang to it.

You do have to be careful when eating these because there is a seed inside that is about the size of half the fruit. After you get it peeled, they feel and kind of look like grapes but you can’t just pop it in your mouth like a grape because your teeth may completely fall out. The seed is easy to eat around though unlike a peach pit.

I haven’t ventured into eating too many because my stomach may hate me later, but I am very tempted to just eat a big bowl full of these.