Try something different. Add a little lychee to your fruit salad. Not only will it add an exotic tickle for the taste buds, it’ll tickle your “ticker”, too.
When scientists recently measured the heart-helping polyphenol content of fruits popular in France, lychees were bested only by strawberries, and grapes came in third. Foods high in polyphenols have antioxidant, antiviral, anticancer properties. An antioxidant food list for a heart healthy diet, cardiovascular disease prevention.
Polyphenols promote healing of disease and disease prevention. More and more, scientist are discovering that healthy antioxidant-rich food as close to a natural state as possible, is the best cure and prevention for a variety of diseases.
The Top 10 polyphenol-spiked fruits, in order, are: strawberries, lychees, grapes, apricots, apples, dates, cherries, figs, pears, and white nectarines. The small, heart-shaped red fruit is now going global and making an appearance in U.S. markets, especially during the summer.
In addition to impressive amounts of polyphenols, lychees also have heart-smart vitamin C and potassium. So just for a health boost, fun and a little WOW!, try this unusual fruit.
Stuffed Lychees
Yield: about 4 doz
2 cans (1 lb, 4 oz size) lychees or 1 + lb of fresh lychee
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese
1 Tbsp apple or grape juice concentrate (undiluted)
Dash salt
3 Tbsp chopped macadamia nuts
2 Tbsp chopped crystalized ginger
Drain lychees. In small bowl of electric mixer, beat cream cheese with juice concentrate and salt until mixture is smooth. Stir in remaining ingredients. Stuff lychees.
Download this recipe.
Baked Lychees
1 lb lychee fruit, peeled & seeded
½ C brown sugar
4 Tbsp butter
2 tsp ground cinnamon
Sweetened whipped cream or ice cream (optional, but who would opt out of something so yummy?)
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Mix brown sugar, butter and cinnamon together.
Roll or shake lychees in the sugar mixture and place in buttered casserole or baking dish.
Bake for 10-15 minutes until sugar begins to caramelize. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.
Download this recipe.
Strawberry-Lychee Shortcake
1 pint sliced, fresh strawberries
4 Tbsp sugar
1 C ricotta cheese
1 can lychees or 2 cups fresh lychees
6 individual sponge shortcakes
In a small bowl, crush half of the strawberries. Add remaining strawberries and 2 tablespoons sugar. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
In a second small bowl, combine ricotta cheese, lychees and remaining sugar; blend well
Place shortcakes on serving plate and top each with cheese-lychee mixture. Spoon strawberries over filled shortcakes.
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Lychee Ice Cream
1½ C canned seedless lychees, drained & diced
2 C heavy cream
1 C milk
¾ C sugar
2 egg yolks, beaten
¼ C fresh lemon juice
1. Combine the cream, milk and sugar in a saucepan or double boiler; heat until warm and the sugar is completely dissolved. Add 1 cup of the cream mixture to the yolks while whisking lightly. Gradually pour the egg mixture back into the cream mixture while continuing to whisk lightly.
2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the back of your spoon is thinly coated, about 8 minutes. Do not allow to boil or the ice cream custard mixture will curdle.
3. Add the lychee and lemon juice and let it cool in the refrigerator overnight.
4. Freeze in an electric or manual ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. If you don't have an ice cream maker you can put the ice cream custard in a bowl and put it in your freezer until frozen.
4 Servings
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