It's litchi season again. In this short tasting period of more than two months, countless lychees flowed to all parts of the country.

The provinces with the largest litchi production are Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian. There are more than 60 varieties of litchi, which are generally difficult for local people to distinguish, let alone the central and northern regions.

In Guangdong, the average consumer will rank litchi: A Guiwei, B Glutinous Rice, C Huaizhi, D Feizixiao, etc ... So most local consumers will not pay too much attention to the characteristics of D, and will focus their energy and consumption on the first two.

This guide to appreciating Li must be collected!

Guiwei

In the middle and late June, Guiwei went public. Guiwei is one of the two best varieties of litchi, which is easy to identify from the appearance: the ear is thin and sharp, mountain-shaped, and difficult to press. Guiwei is small and medium-sized.

Cinnamon-flavored meat is crisp, fragrant with osmanthus, sweet in taste and good in water retention, and the juice will not cross when peeled. The cinnamon smell of small stones is relatively resistant to storage, and online shopping can give priority to cinnamon smell.

Date of fruiting: mid to late June. Sweetness: six girls. Quality origin: Nanshan, Shenzhen

Duck head green (the best cinnamon)

Glutinous rice grain

Glutinous rice is slightly heart-shaped and slightly flat; The handle is crooked, the fruit shoulder is sometimes high on one side and low on the other, and the cracked piece is rougher than cinnamon. Bigger.

Glutinous rice has the highest sweetness, soft, smooth and juicy taste, and the most remarkable feature is that its skin is generally thin, and its edible rate is the highest among all varieties.

Guiwei and Minoxuan are the two best varieties in the mass market, with the best taste, different strengths, the widest audience and the highest price.

Hu Aizhi

Sophora japonica is a late-maturing variety. When a large number of Sophora branches are on the market (early July), it means that the overall fruiting period of litchi has ended. Sophora branches are round, full, nearly spherical, medium in size, with smooth cracks and shallow cracks. The skin color is often pure, bright and pleasing to the eye.

The taste and sweetness of Sophora branches are not as dazzling as cinnamon glutinous rice. After eating, it will be a little astringent in the mouth and the stones are still very large, belonging to the upper-middle variety.

Princess smile:

"The world of mortals rides a princess, and no one knows it is litchi." The variety of princess smile is worth more because of the blessing of this poem (Yang Guifei doesn't necessarily eat princess smile), but princess smile is not prominent in litchi.

Feizixiao is an early-maturing variety with sweet and sour taste and a lot of water. After peeling, the juice will overflow, and the sweet and sour taste makes many people fondle it.

After picking, the taste appreciation period of Feizixiao is very short, and the pulp will collapse in 2-3 days. Online shopping is not recommended.

Tips for buying litchi

1. If you buy litchi locally, but only write "litchi x yuan a catty" without indicating the variety, and the kernel is relatively large, nine times out of ten it is Sophora branches or black leaves, the former is late-maturing (early July) and the latter is early-maturing (early June).

2. If the variety is marked and you call yourself "glutinous rice cake" or "cinnamon", please refer to the identification method above and the part about grafting in Hu Aizhi's paragraph. This is probably a scam, because cinnamon and glutinous rice are mainly exported products besides being digested by the provincial market.

Litchi peel is slightly brown, with light color and little change in taste. If it is found that a large area of brown has penetrated into the shell after peeling, and the white fruit is turned brown, it is a serious deterioration. After peeling, the flesh is soft, the color is turbid, the juice drips out, and there is adhesion between the skin and flesh, which belongs to serious corruption and is inedible.

4. The preservation method of litchi is to wrap litchi with absorbent paper (kitchen paper), cover it with a plastic bag, and store it in the fruit and vegetable layer of the refrigerator. Don't store it at room temperature in hot days.