Lychee

Lychees are a tropical fruit which originated in China, but are being grown in Australia, mostly in Queensland. The Chinese brought them to Australia over 100 years ago in the goldrush days! In China the lychee is a symbol of romance! Perhaps a good fruit to have handy this valentine’s day!

If you are wanting to grow your own lychee tree, patience is a must as it can take up to 5 years to start producing some fruit. After 10 years it will prove the wait was worth it as it can produce up to 200kgs of lychees!

Lychees are extremely high in vitamin C, dietary fibre and have good levels of calcium, potassium and phosphorus. They are naturally very sweet from a blend of half fructose and half glucose. Although sweet they are low in calories with only 285kJ per 100g. (71.25 calories per 100g).

They are often tinned in a sweet syrup, but if you can get fresh ones are they so much nicer and healthier!