Lychees

About the size of a small plum, the lychee has a knobbly, red or rust-coloured leathery skin, which encases a sweet and fragrant creamy flesh around a hard stone. Lychees are important in Chinese cuisine as they are said to promote fertility and good luck. Eat them fresh or add to fruit salads and ice creams, purée or poach in a light syrup. Because fruit with green skins won’t ripen once picked, buy lychees at their peak — when their skin is red. As the fruit ages, its skin becomes more brittle and brown. Lychees are also available tinned and dried.