« Gingery Good | Main | Doing It My Way »
Thursday, July 08, 2025
‘Tis the Season for Juicy Sweeties
I love fruits. Any kind of fruit – or just about. And I really like this time of the year when it comes to fruits… it’s a bonanza of tastes, flavors, aromas and textures. There is of course the much anticipated and eagerly welcomed mid-year durian season; there are the wondrous summer fruits from the US and Europe: Bing and Rainier cherries, blueberries, strawberries, white nectarines, white peaches… (Speaking of which, have you tried the ones from Israel which recently arrived at Cold Storage? Quite lovely.)
This year, we also seem to have a sudden influx of a lot of fruits from South Africa. Maybe they are not new; perhaps I just never really paid attention in the past… but suddenly I’m noticing that the supermarkets are filled with trays of South African persimmons (or Sharon fruit) and Forelle pears…
These are a new discovery for me. I quite like these pretty red-flushed pears. To me, they seem to taste somewhat similar to the sugar pear – which I adore and whose season is so fleetingly short; although the Forelle’s fragrance and sweetness seem even more delicate and subtle. Their flesh is also crunchier and firmer than the sugar pear’s. I like them well ripened; when they lose their little touch of sappiness. I’m also thinking that, maybe, they may work better as cooking/baking pears rather than eaten fresh. While they may not be quite up there with the sugar pear on my “adore” list, they are certainly a sweet new addition.
But what I’m really excited about at this time of the year are these…
Yes! It’s lychee (or “li chi” in Mandarin) season! It’s a happy sight when the first baskets of Thai lychees start appearing. But I normally wait; I take that as a sign of sweet things to come. For usually, a couple of weeks after the Thai arrivals, we get these – Lo Mai Chi from China. And these lychees are the ones I really like.
They tend to be slightly smaller, but oh, they are sweet, sweet, sweet! And very, very juicy. Bite into one, and immediately you have sweet nectar running down your chin and your fingers. Glorious!
Lo Mai Chis are known for their thick, fleshy pulp and tiny seed. And you know what I really like about them? Their “inner” flesh (the part that touches the seed) does not usually have that layer of thick, sourish husk attached to it. Most importantly, the Lo Mai Chi does not leave that awful sappy, gummy after-taste and feeling in your mouth after you have eaten it. The sweetness, flavors and fragrances are just so pure…
The other day, I came home with a few baskets (okay, maybe too many baskets) of these Lo Mai Chis, and so ended up using some of them to make…
… lychee “kulfi”. Soy milk-based lychee “kulfi”. The flavors worked very well… light, refreshing and summery. And they worked even better when paired with chopped toasted almonds.
It also allowed me to finally inaugurate the flower-shaped silicone moulds that I bought back in April. Quite pretty, no? And the moulds were great for frozen desserts… the kulfis popped right out with little effort, and each were beautifully shaped.
As we hit the peak of lychee season, my thoughts start turning to another sweet, juicy favorite – longans! Their season is always not far behind. Already, just the other day, I spotted some Thai longans in the supermarket. And that can only mean that the Chinese and Taiwanese varietals (which I prefer) will be appearing soon. Yay!
Meanwhile, another Chinese sweetie that I am currently savoring with delight is the Hami Melon.
In appearance, the flesh of this famous Chinese melon has a slight resemblance to the cantaloupe; its taste and texture are however are quite different.
Unlike the soft, yielding flesh of the cantaloupe, the Hami Melon has a slightly crispy texture – a little reminiscent of Asian pears like the Nashi or the Fragrant Pear. Its bouquet is also more delicate than the pronounced sweet notes of the cantaloupe; it has a rather subtle flora fragrance. The Hami’s sweetness is also more toned down and less aggressive, yet in many senses purer than the cantaloupe’s.
I like these for their refreshing crunchy texture and their juiciness. Very nice!
Would you believe that 15-18 years ago, when these imported melons were new to the Singapore market, they cost a whopping S$30.00+ (US$18+) for just one melon! In those days, it was definitely a fruit for the elite only. Thankfully, nowadays, a large, heavy, juicy sweet beauty can be had for just S$4.50!
With so many juicy sweeties tempting and tantalizing my taste-buds at this time of the year, I sometimes feel I want to eat nothing but fruits all day.
Copyright © 2004 Renee Kho. All Rights Reserved.
Please contact me for permission to copy, publish, distribute or display any of the images or text contained in this article.
04:37 PM in Other Shiok-Eats | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/903013
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference ‘Tis the Season for Juicy Sweeties:
Comments
Oooh..I LOVE lychees but they are really rare in Sibu. I spotted some from Thai when I went to KL in June and I bought so many to devour :) Not too good for my health because they are quite heaty and I developed rather bad headaches after eating about 2 Kgs of them..hehehe..
The Lo Mai Chi looks so good but I don't think I've ever tasted them before.
As for longan, I like the green variety...so juicy!
Posted by: Ariel | July 8, 2025 06:59 PM
lycheeeee! longannnn! these fruits are extremely pricey here in Oz. *sigh* Renee, your blog reminds me of rambutan too. and yes! i saw your previous blog on langsat. *yummm*
your lychee kulfi looks really yummy. care to share the recipe with us? ;-)
Posted by: pinkcocoa | July 8, 2025 08:56 PM
hi Ariel,
yeah, they are heaty... I try not to overindulge too... but sometimes, they're a little hard to resist (as you know ; )).
2kgs??!! oh my! ; p
ooh... not sure I've ever seen a green longan.
their skin is green? where are they usually from?
now I'm intrigued...
hi pinkcocoa,
do they grow lychees & rambutans in the Northern Territory or Queensland? would you know? just curious...
I would be happy to post the recipe... it's just that it is still being tweaked...
you probably can't see it from the photos (haha! the wonders of camera angles ; )) but the texture wasn't very smooth... a little crystalized and "icy"... so I think I have to adjust the sugar/soy milk ratio a little, although, tastewise it already is pretty good as is...
I think I might also have to adjust the method a little as I didn't use an ice cream machine or even the stand mixer...
if you don't mind a "works in progress" recipe, I'll be happy to post it up here... otherwise, I was planning to post about it when I improve on it.
(it could take some time though, as I wasn't following a recipe and kind of made it up as I went along... very much a "trial and error" project : p)
let me know... : )
Posted by: Renee | July 9, 2025 04:34 AM
There are small scale producers growing lychees, rambutans and other Asian fruits in Queensland and Northern Territory, but they are on a fairly small scale and tend to be organic, biodynamic type operations who don't ship their product very far. If you're in the area you can buy them, but here down south there's very little chance, which is sad. Down here it's tinned lychees all the way, unless you're lucky enough to find some in an Asian grocery store.
Posted by: Niki | July 9, 2025 08:10 AM
sorry to say i dun really like lychees but longan is a different story. however, do take a note when u eat them, make sure u dun bite to break off its skin.
a friend of mine, his dad had to be hospitalised for dat. they hv to flushed out his stomach!!! apparently these longans were sprayed wid a kind of preservative to keep them fresh longer. my friend's dad loved them and bought a lot. worst part was they din wash them properly. his dad broke of the skins by biting them. as they ate, he noticed his dad's lips and surrounding area turning blue. later his stomach ached.
after dat incident, i washed mine thoroughly and soak them for hours. once i rinsed one batch for more than 10 times!!! the water so murky.
so be careful.
Posted by: babe_kl | July 9, 2025 09:33 AM
Hi Renee,
Don't you just love this time of the year when both tropical and temperate fruits are available? I've relegated the perennial likes of apples and oranges to the back burner...lol. Another of my favs is the big, red juicy jambus. The gigantic Thai mangoes are awesome too. Btw, how do you choose a decent hami melon? My choices always turn out to be like cucumbers...
Yes, yes, do post your lychee kulfi...yum.
Posted by: Shirley | July 9, 2025 09:49 AM
Hi Renee,
Unfortunately for me, I don't have the opportunity to taste the wonderful durians that are available in S'pore. The only one we get here are Thai durians that have been frozen and they definitely lack the odor and flavor of the D24 durians that I've heard so much about. Maybe there will still be some available for me to try when I get there in late November.
As for lychee, they grow quite a bit of it here. In fact, my aunt has a tree growing in her yard that produces lots of fruit. Although I really must say that I'm not too much of a lychee fan. I'm not so sure why anymore, but I think it was because of the texture of the fruit itself...maybe that's why I don't really care for rambutans either. I find both fruits to be quite similar in taste and texture.
I haven't ever eaten a fresh longan, and have been seeing many of them in the stores lately. How do they taste fresh? I've only had longan drinks before and they were very delicious! =) That hami melon is one that I've never seen here. Do you know if it's known by any other name? How big does it get?
Posted by: Reid | July 9, 2025 12:52 PM
Hi Renee!
I tried to google green longan but all I got was the Thai and Chinese variety (the brown ones). The green variety looks nothing like the brown ones. The skin is more like lychee's but tougher and the seed always kinda looks like lyhcee's. We normally get them towards the end of the year. I think it's available in Sarawak only? I am not sure. Your mum might know what it is. I will try take pics for you the next time we eat them :)
Posted by: Ariel | July 9, 2025 08:05 PM
hi Niki,
thanks : )
hi babe kl,
wow, that is serious!
sorry to hear that your friend's dad had to learn the hard way...
yeah, I agree that the (non-organic) fruits (& veggies) come sprayed with so much stuff it's scary... I just didn't realize it was THAT much!
I too always wash all my fruits and veggies thoroughly... and where possible I peel the fruits before eating, even tho' the part just under the skin is always supposed to have the most vits etc... but I think between pesticides and vitamins, I prefer to err on the side of caution! lol.
thanks for sharing : )
hi Shirley,
same here... I've even stopped eating gold kiwis... and I absolutely love them... there is just too many other wonderful fruits to eat at this time of year...
umm... I'm not terribly good at choosing hami, although I've been "taught" several times... apparently it's pretty much the same way as for choosing watermelon... heavy fruit with that requisite heavy, hollow thud when smacked.
I usually leave the choosing to someone else, and just specialize in the eating!
errr... I can't seem to find the scrap piece of paper I had scribbled the kulfi ingredient amounts on... so sorry...
when I was making the kulfi I was just messing around with the ingredients, not expecting it to work at all, but it sort of did - tastewise at least... so I then casually scribbled the ingredient quantities on a small piece of scrap paper which has now gone missing! oh well...
anyway, instead of posting the working recipe here in the comments section, I think I'll wait till I get round to making it again and finetuning it... sometime...
hope you don't mind...
cheers.
hi Reid,
I can't profess to be a fan of Thai durians either... don't really like their texture or flavors, unfortunately.
there is a secondary durian season at the end of the year... so you may just get lucky : )
wow, how nice to have a lychee tree in the garden!
I'm very curious as to how different hawaiian lychees are from the ones we get here...
I'm also not a rambutan person at all... but I find lychees very different from rambutan... which has a firmer flesh and a different texture... what I really don't like about rambutans is that awful coarse husk of the seed that attaches to the flesh : (
lychees, to me, have a more floral fragrance, and alot more juicy and sweeter too : )
longans are slightly crunchy... very juicy and sweet.
hard to describe... they don't really taste like any other fruit. I guess you'll have to try it to really know ; )
I think hami is grown in only 1-2 provinces of China, and not anywhere else (if I'm not wrong)... and don't think they have any other name (at least not that I know of).
although I think the Japanese have their own varietal which is somewhat similar to the hami... can't remember the name.
hamis can get quite large I guess... but usually around maybe 1 foot in length?
hey Ariel,
now I'm really intrigued...
my friend mentioned he's eaten it before and that they are much sweeter than the regular brown ones.
I'll keep an eye out at the end of the year... and hopefully I can find some to try : )
thanks for sharing the info : )
and oh yes, please... if you happen to eat any, please take some pics : )
Posted by: Renee | July 10, 2025 03:51 AM
Niki, thanks for answering Renee's question ;-)
Renee, I dont actually mind a work-in-progress recipe. the kulfi looks very yummy already. but then again you should always post up something that you are happy about so i dont mind waiting if you decide to improve on it. I would imagine the crystalline and icy texture be very nice on a hot hot day. *slurp* thanks in advance for posting the recipe!
Posted by: pinkcocoa | July 12, 2025 10:00 PM
hi pinkcocoa,
okay... let me try to find that scrap piece of paper again... it must be somewhere... and if/when I do, I'll post the recipe up here... : )
Posted by: Renee | July 13, 2025 02:03 AM
LYCHEE KULFI
This is the recipe that I used for the lychee kulfi… or more precisely, this is what I remember of the recipe I used for the lychee kulfi.
I wasn’t working from any specific recipe, and was kind of just playing around with food (as usual) in the kitchen. I had wanted to use up some of the lychees that were ripening too quickly, but I had never made kulfi (or any other ice cream for that matter) before. But how difficult could it be, right? Some milk or substitute, sugar, fruit and that should be it. I opted for kulfi instead of ice cream simply because I didn’t have an ice cream maker, and kulfi didn’t require air to be whipped into it, unlike ice cream. Also, ice cream used cream, kulfi milk. So, it was hardly a decision at all.
Anyway, I was simply mixing the ingredients by the “agak-agak” (guesstimation) method, and not really expecting much from the results. But when I discovered, at the end, that the flavors actually worked rather well, I scribbled the quantities of the ingredients used onto a scrap piece of paper, intending at some point in the future to refine and improve the texture of the kulfi. Well, that piece of scrap paper has since gone AWOL… can’t find it any where. And so, this is what I remember, from memory, as being the amount of ingredients that I used:
(Please excuse the haphazard mixed usage of metric and non-metric measurements. What can I say? I get schizophrenic in the kitchen sometimes ; ))
1 litre unsweetened soy milk * (Sobe brand)
250g fresh lychee pulp **
approx. ½ cup castor sugar
* I opted for a soy milk base for the kulfi, but whole milk would be very good. And I think certain Indian recipes even use evaporated milk. I probably would not use low-fat or skim milk though, as the fat is required to give the kulfi its smooth, creamy texture.
** If fresh lychee is unavailable, I think canned (and drained) lychee would work too.
- place the soy milk in a heavy bottom pot and bring to a gentle boil. Lower the heat, and allow it to simmer (very gently) until the volume is reduced by half. [For the soy milk, I found that I had to stir very regularly, otherwise a layer of “protein skin” would form on the surface. This, by the way, is the bean curd skin (fu juk) that we know. A simple stir will dissolve this “skin” back into the milk.]
- in the meantime, peel the lychees and remove the pips.
- place the lychee pulp and the sugar into a food processor and blitz until sugar is dissolved. Strain through a fine wire mesh to get a smooth liquid.
- remove the reduced soy milk from the heat. Place it into an ice and cold water bath to let it cool, stirring continuously to prevent the “skin” from developing. Strain the liquid through a fine wire mesh to remove any solids that may be there.
- add fruit/sugar mixture to the soy milk, stir gently to combine. Do not stir too vigorously and create too many bubbles; it will affect the texture of the kulfi.
- pour the mixture into a tray or pan and put into the freezer.
- when it is semi-solidified (a few hours later), remove the tray from the freezer and empty the contents into the bowl of a stand mixer. On low speed, gently stir the kulfi mixture until smooth.
- transfer to kulfi moulds (or as I did, patterned silicone baking moulds), cover and return to freezer.
[I actually did not do the stand-mixer part, and that probably partly accounted for the grainy, icy texture I got. Now, I’m not sure this stand-mixer bit will fully solve the problem – I haven’t tried it, and like I said in my previous comments, this is a “work in progress” recipe – but it should help the kulfi texture at least a little bit.
I also suspect the sugar ratio needs to be adjusted. While my ice cream-making technical knowledge is pitiful, I think sugar does affect the way the ice cream/kulfi freezes. I’m thinking maybe more sugar may be required… perhaps ¾ cup at least? I’m actually very happy with the balance of sweetness as the recipe stands (the fruit that was used was very sweet naturally), and more sugar may tip the balance into over-sweet. So, I haven’t quite figured out how to solve this hurdle yet. Any ideas, anyone?]
The flavors were good – the delicate bouquet of the lychee was not overpowered by the soy milk. It was just nicely sweet. Only the texture was a let-down – rather icy and not creamy.
If you do try out this recipe, I would love for you to come back and share your experience. And hopefully we can get towards a good kulfi recipe. : )
Thank you.
Posted by: Renee | July 16, 2025 01:03 PM
thanks so much Renee! the kulfi looks very simple to make ;-) i reckon the extra step with the stand mixer might help to create a creamier texture. havent tried my hands on any frozen delights before so dont count on my words ;-P i have heard you can use evaporated milk to make kulfi too.
Posted by: pinkcocoa | July 16, 2025 03:39 PM
Hi Renee,
Thanks so much for posting your "WIP". Doesn't look like WIP - more like done but need some fine tuning. Yes - I think the Indian kulfis use evaporated milk. Vaguely remembered that while reading the South Indian Cookbook. Need to check it out to verify. Thanks a bunch again! Have a great weekend and look forward to reading all the IMBB entries! Can't say I'm there yet... :-P
Posted by: Shirley | July 16, 2025 05:41 PM
hey pinkcocoa & shirley,
my pleasure : )
now I'm just waiting for the China/Taiwan longan season to start, and I might make some longan kulfi... and experiment with the evaporated milk and stand mixer to see if they make any difference : )
or maybe I should first go read up on making kulfis... haha! I get lazy about such things some time... and just prefer messing around "blind" in the kitchen and playing with the food : P
Posted by: Renee | July 18, 2025 10:09 PM
