luscious lychees

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 The male of the human species can be quite the baby when it comes to eating berries or peeling fruits! They much rather not eat such fruit. At least the specimens around me show these symptoms, sigh. So as a good housewife I have to find ways to keep my sanity .... errrrr, keep fruits fresh for longer and also to serve them with least amount of effort to both genders.

So here's how I store and peel lychees.....thankfully, I no longer have to deseed and slice away the pulp. My specimen has been tamed a bit ;-P

After several different ways, here's the one that works foolproof for me (the batch above had been bought and stored 4 days before taking these pics and one helping already served)

1. Do not cut away the twigs and leaves... keep the lychees attached. 

2. Put the entire bundle in a cotton bag and wrap nicely. 

TIP : I use old cotton pillows, folded and sewn along the sides to give me an open bag with double cloth layers. These are ideal to store select fruits and veggies. My MIL handed me her spare new cotton pillow covers for use, like the one photographed ;-D 

3. Place inside any air-tight container, be it a zip lock pouch or lidded container, and refrigerate.

The berries stay fresh easily for 10 or more days! 

Now comes the serving and eating part where the male specimen cannot be bothered! 

4. Break the berries from their stems, rinse, and soak in clean water for a couple of minutes. With your bare fingers, simply tug the stub and start peeling. Voila, the hard dry skin has softened and peels off smoothly. 

Gone are the days when I used to struggle to peel the skin in small bits and pieces.

Notice the new batch of pre-soaked almonds in the bottle?

Lychees served with cherries and soaked almonds. The condensation is still visible on the cherries! That's how quick this entire exercise was.

Other berries such as cherries and Indian blackberries (jamun), strawberries, too, are best stored in similar fashion. Line a container with paper towel5/napkins or cotton cloth, place the cherries, cover with another sheet of paper napkin, then close lid and refrigerate. They stay fresh for days.