About food. Lychee.

Ordinary products-vegetables, fruits, nuts, juices and berries – are not just our taste preferences. That's what makes us who we are. It also enriches and enriches the elements necessary for life. But what if we make changes to our usual diet? After all, each product is a storehouse of certain substances that affect the body. Our health, well-being and mood depend on what we eat. And the task of each of us is to learn this information and learn how to use it.

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Lychee (Latin Litchi chinensis - Chinese plum) is a small sweet and sour berry covered with a cortical skin. The fruit grows on evergreen tropical trees, whose height reaches 10-30 meters. Homeland of the berry is China.

Lychee has an oval or round shape with a diameter of 2.5-4 cm. The fortified fetus has a dense peel of red color with a large number of sharp tubercles. Only flesh of the fetus is used for food, which has a jelly-like structure, and in color and taste it resembles pure grapes of white varieties. Inside the pulp is an oval brown bone. The main harvest of Lychee is in May-June.

History of the appearance and distribution of the world

The first mention of litchi, dated 2 in BC. during the reign of the Chinese emperor Wu Di. In those days, China was divided by the Great Wall into two separate states: South and North China. According to one legend, the ruler Wu Di tried to start from the south and began to cultivate the fruit in the northern territories, however, due to lack of heat, moisture and fertility of the land, the plant did not take root. Angry, he ordered all the court gardeners to be executed. In European countries, Lychee was first introduced in the middle of the 17th century.

Currently, Lychee is grown everywhere in the entire subtropical area of Southeast Asia, where there is no severe winters, and the climate is quite dry.

Use in cooking

In food, Lychee is mostly used fresh. However, you can also prepare desserts (ice cream, jelly, marmalade), jam, jam, Chinese wine from the pulp of the berry. You can meet Lychee and in dried form. In this case, the flesh of the fetus rustles, and the dry flesh with the stone freely rolls inside. Lychee in this form is called Litchi nut.

Select and store

Fresh fruit is very difficult to store and transport over long distances. To Lychee last longer, they are torn together by bunches together with a branch and several leaves. At a temperature of 1-7 ° C lychee can be stored for a month, and at room temperature - only 3 days.

Buying Lychee in the store, you should pay attention to the skin. It should be red, not too soft and without visible damage. Brown color indicates the staleness of Lychee.

Nutrition value in 100 grams:

Proteins, gr	Fat, gr	Carbohydrates, gr	Ash, gr	Water, gr	Calorific value, kcal
0.83	0.44	15.3	0.44	81.8	66

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The fruits of Lychee contain a large number of nutrients, including vitamins (C, E, K, group B, PP, H), minerals (calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, sodium, iodine, selenium, manganese), organic acids and pectic substances.

Doctors of Eastern medicine use Lychee for the treatment and prevention of atherosclerosis, the normalization of the sugar level in diabetes, the work of the liver, lungs and kidneys. Together with medicinal herbs and lemongrass, Lychee is used to treat cancer and restore strength in the fight against the disease. At the same time, you should consume at least 10 fruits a day.

Due to the high content of fetal potassium in the pulp, it is recommended to use it for people with cardiovascular disease, with high cholesterol levels in the blood and anemia. It is also used to treat the stomach, pancreas, abnormal bowel function. In Hindu medicine, Lychee is considered an aphrodisiac, which enhances sexual attraction and masculine strength.

Lychee has no contraindications to use. Do not eat them only to those people who have an individual fetal intolerance. When offering Lychee, children should be careful not to eat more than 100 grams a day. Also, excessive consumption of fruit can cause allergic reactions to the skin in the form of rashes and redness.