Late May to late June offer one of the more rewarding fresh fruit pleasures: Lychee season is here. It doesn’t last long, at least not in south India, but as with so many passing delights, the shorter they appear to be the greater is the joy that they deliver, in the case of lychee: lavishly. We are using the word ‘joy’ quite deliberately in this context, as it is indeed an integral part of the lychee story. Once you savor this fruit, best fresh from the tree, you most likely will fall in love with it. You will therefore not be surprised when you hear that ‘lychee’, when translated from the Chinese, means nothing less than ‘gift for a joyful life’. Truly: what a gift!
Add love to the equation. Lychee produces joy and – is said to evoke love. In its country of origin (lychee is a native of the southern provinces of Kwantung and Fukien), the fruit has always been associated with love. According to an ancient Chinese legend, one of the Tang emperors would dispatch some of his royal guards from his capital Chang-An every year, 600 hundred miles south, in order to have them pick lychee. The fruit were for his favorite concubine whom he wished not only to serve him as she must, but also fall in love with him, forever. No wonder that even in today’s China, lychee serves as a symbol for love and romance. There is something seductive about the lychee fruit. Personally, I enjoy the mouth-watering even bewitching quality it creates on the taste buds, and likewise through its luscious texture.
Eating fresh lychee is by no means only pleasurable. It is indeed a very healthy pleasure. There are a number of more ordinary and some extraordinary health benefits to be derived, mostly from the flesh of the fruit, but also from medicinal preparations made from the seeds. Lychee
· Is extremely rich in vitamin C, in fact richer than oranges; 100gr of fresh fruit pulp provides 71mg of vitamin C or 119% of the daily-recommended value
· Contains a good amount of minerals such as copper and potassium, phosphorus and calcium
· Is a good source for B-complex vitamins such as thiamin, niacin and folates
· Is rich in fiber
· Is a natural diuretic
· Is richer in Beta carotene than carrots
Among the extraordinary health benefits of lychee may be the fruit’s mildly anti-carcinogenic properties. Two Chinese studies suggest as much, conducted by the Zhejiang Gonshang University, and the West China Hospital associated with the University of Sichuan. Furthermore, studies completed by Takuya Sakurai at Kyorin University in Japan suggest, that “oligonol, a low molecular weight polyphenol is found abundantly in lychee fruit. Oligonol has been proven to have several anti-oxidant, anti-influenza virus actions. In addition, it helps improve blood flow in organs, reduce weight, and protect skin from harmful ultra violet rays.”
The healing properties of the seeds, on the other hand, are part of folk medicine. They are purported to have pain-relieving properties. The seeds are powdered or made into a tea. People in northern India have long used powdered lychee seeds for digestive disorders. The same powder is also used to eliminate worms from the intestinal tract.
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, lychee has the ability to relieve pain and shrink swollen glands. It is part of or its pharmacopeia, in different forms.