How to Eat Litchi

Choose ripe lychee. Look for a firm fruit that is a little soft when squeezed but not flattened or watery. The relatively flat outer shell is also a good sign, the shell will feel a bit lumpy instead of having many raised spines. ^[1] Unripe hard berries are also edible, but the flavor is not very sweet. Wet and soft fruits are overripe and may be fermented (when eaten, they will have a bold and distinct taste) or swollen (unpleasant). Fruits with damaged or wet skins are almost always intact. ^[2]

• Different varieties of lychee will have different skin colors, but most are red, orange or yellow when ripe. Brown fruits are usually spoiled.

Peel from the stem of the lychee. Hold the fruit stem several times and peel off the pink or golden brown skin at one end. The white, almost transparent pulp inside is the edible part of the lychee. You can hold the lychee over the bowl when you peel it to catch the water running down.

• If the lychee is left outside for a long time, the skin will harden and be more difficult to peel. You can use your fingernails, teeth, or a knife to cut the peel. The skin of the lychee is also easier to peel if you soak it in water. ^[3]
• If the pulp is completely transparent, speckled, or yellow-brown, the lychee has been fermented or germinated.

Squeeze the lychee or tear off the skin. A perfectly ripe lychee has a soft skin that easily separates from the flesh. You can gently squeeze the lychee so that the flesh inside pops out. If this doesn’t work, just use your fingers to tear the crust into small pieces. ^[4]

• The peel of the lychee fruit is inedible. Throw it away or use it as compost.

Take out the seeds. Lychee fruit has a large seed located in the middle of the fruit. You can gently tear the flesh of the fruit, remove the shiny brown lychee inside and throw it away. Litchi seeds are mildly toxic.

Eat lychee. Fresh lychee fruit has a sweet, crispy, succulent flesh with a distinctive flavor that canned lychee products never have. You can eat the fruit fresh or continue reading below for ways to prepare this fruit.

• There is a thin brownish film on the inside of the fruit, close to the seed. This part is just as edible as the others, it’s just crunchier and doesn’t affect the taste at all. The lychee will lose a lot of its sweet fragrance if you peel this part away. ^[5]

Store uneaten lychees. Wrap a dry paper towel outside the bundle, put it in a perforated plastic bag or a slightly open plastic box. You will keep it for up to a week this way, although the rind may turn brown and harden. Discard the bruised lychees. ^[6]

• If you can’t eat them all right away, you can freeze unpeeled fruits in a sealed plastic bag. Run warm water over the frozen lychees for 15 seconds, then peel and eat. Partially defrosted lychees have a lemon-cream-like texture. ^[7]