"Dragon's eye" - tasty and he althy exotic

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Lychee is a delicious exotic fruit native to China, also known as Chinese plum. Another nickname - "dragon's eye" - the fruit has earned because of its specific shape. When you cut the fruit into two halves, you will see a white pulp with a black seed in the middle, which is very reminiscent of a dragon's eye.

Description of the plant

This evergreen grows in the tropics and subtropics. Leaf blades are narrow and elongated with slightly wavy edges. The flowers are small, collected in panicles. A small cluster of fruits is collected in each panicle, usually 3-15 berries. In nature, there are more than a hundred species of lychee. The most valuable are small-seeded varieties, which are mistakenly called seedless. For the normal development of the fruits of the "dragon's eye" it is necessary to pollinate. There is a generally accepted opinion that it is impossible to breed a completely seedless variety of lychee.

Trees can reach a considerable height - over twenty meters, although they grow very slowly. The yield of each individual tree increases during the first twenty years of life in connection with the growth period. The plant begins to bear fruit in the fourth or tenth year of life, depending on the variety andorigin.

When the fruits are ripe, they are simply cut from the tree right along with the stem part. This method of harvesting spares the tree as much as possible and does not prevent it from actively bearing fruit next season.

"Dragon's eye" and its useful properties

Hindus has long revered this fruit as a powerful aphrodisiac. There is even a saying that says: "One berry - three torches" (a torch is used in the context of time - one torch is approximately equal to half an hour).

Dragon eye fruit contains 80% liquid, it is rich in vitamins and trace elements such as magnesium, calcium, potassium. Depending on the variety, lychee contains from 6 to 18 percent sugar. Also, this fruit contains a lot of nicotinic acid, which dilates blood vessels, improves blood circulation. In fact, lychee ranks first in the world for its content (0.53mg per 100g), followed by apples (0.23mg), followed by pears (0.15mg).

Have you tried "dragon's eye"?

Lychee is very popular in its homeland - it is used to make traditional Chinese wine, juices, carbonated drinks, and is also consumed in canned form. Sometimes caring Chinese grandmothers feed their grandchildren to satiety with pies stuffed with dragon's eye fruit. In addition, this fruit goes well with fish dishes and is used in the preparation of sauces for meat.

• How to choose? Try to keep the fruit red - overripe lychees are burgundyshade, and unripe - yellow.
• How to store? No more than three days at room temperature. But if the fruit, after cleaning it, is put in the freezer, then it can be stored for more than two months.
• How to cook? Of course, there are a lot of ways to prepare this fruit, but it is best to use it fresh. "Dragon's eye" contains a lot of pectin, so you can make jelly from it. If you want the fruit to retain the maximum amount of its beneficial properties during cooking, then do not heat it to more than 60 degrees Celsius.