Lychee Sorbet — a floral, rose-scented fruit ice

i. Origin & history

The lychee (Litchi chinensis) is native to southern China, especially Guangdong and Fujian, where it has been cultivated for more than two thousand years. It was a prized and perishable luxury: the most famous story, often retold in Chinese poetry, is that the Tang emperor Xuanzong had fresh lychees rushed by relays of horsemen from the south to the capital for his favourite consort, Yang Guifei. Chinese writers produced treatises on lychee varieties as early as the eleventh century.

From China the fruit spread through Southeast Asia and to India, and later to Madagascar, South Africa, Israel, Australia, Florida and Hawaii. The spelling varies with the route it took into each language: lychee in British and American English, litchi in French and in many older English texts, lichee or leechee in others — all transliterations of the Chinese lìzhī.

In the West, lychees first became familiar in tins. Lychees in syrup, served chilled, were a standard dessert in Chinese restaurants in Britain and North America for much of the twentieth century, and dried lychees ('lychee nuts') were sold in Chinese grocers. Fresh lychees became widely available only from the 1980s and 1990s. The lychee martini, popular in American bars from around the 1990s, helped make the flavour fashionable, and lychee sorbet appeared on the menus of pan-Asian and fusion restaurants as a light, fragrant finish.

Frozen lychee desserts have older precedents in Asia: lychee ice lollies and shaved ices are common across Southeast Asia, and lychees appear in Thai desserts such as tub tim krob and in Malaysian ais kacang. Lychee sorbet itself, made in the French manner with fruit and syrup, is a cross-cultural dish that sits naturally on both Asian and Western menus.

ii. Keeping a delicate perfume alive

Lychee's appeal is its aroma rather than its sweetness or acidity. Its scent is often described as rose-like, and for good reason: lychee shares several aroma compounds with roses and with the Gewürztraminer grape, notably a compound called rose oxide. These aromas are volatile and fragile, and they behave in specific ways that shape the recipe.

Heat dulls them. Cooking lychee flesh drives off its top notes and gives a jammy, flat taste — which is why the sugar syrup is made separately and cooled before blending with raw fruit. (Tinned lychees have been heat-treated already, so they taste a little less floral than fresh, but they are convenient and consistent.)

Cold mutes them. As with all sorbets, freezing suppresses aroma and sweetness, so the base should taste slightly over-perfumed and over-sweet at room temperature. A few drops of rosewater, or a little lime zest, reinforces the floral notes that cold would otherwise mute.

Air browns them. Peeled lychee flesh oxidises and turns beige, and its flavour fades quickly. Lime juice adds the acidity that lychees lack — they are sweet but low in acid — and slows browning. The purée is also passed through a sieve, because lychee flesh contains fibrous strands and bits of the tough inner membrane that would otherwise make the sorbet stringy. As for texture, the sugar level is balanced at around a quarter of the base by weight, the range at which a sorbet stays scoopable without turning syrupy.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 6 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 500 g lychee flesh (about 800 g fresh fruit, or 2 × 565 g tins, drained)
• 110 g caster sugar
• 150 ml water
• 25 g liquid glucose or light corn syrup
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
• ½ tsp rosewater, optional
• ⅛ tsp fine salt

Fresh lychees, when in season (roughly May to August in the northern hemisphere, and around Christmas from the southern hemisphere), give the most perfumed sorbet; choose heavy fruit with red, unbroken shells. Tinned lychees work very well: drain them, and replace the water with 150 ml of the tin syrup while reducing the sugar to 70 g, since the syrup is already sweet. Rosewater varies greatly in strength — add it a few drops at a time; too much tastes of soap. Liquid glucose gives a smoother texture and can be replaced with 20 g extra sugar.

iv. Method

1. Heat the sugar, water and glucose in a small pan, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Simmer for 1 minute, then take off the heat and cool completely.
2. If using fresh lychees, peel them, slit the flesh and remove the stones, along with any brown inner skin clinging to the flesh. Weigh out 500 g of flesh.
3. Blend the lychee flesh with the lime juice and salt until completely smooth, 1–2 minutes.
4. Press the purée through a fine sieve, scraping the underside, and discard the fibres. Stir in the cooled syrup and the rosewater a few drops at a time, tasting as you go; the base should taste clearly perfumed and slightly too sweet.
5. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or overnight, until very cold.
6. Churn in an ice-cream maker for 20–25 minutes, until it looks like thick, pale soft-serve.
7. Scrape into a chilled container, press baking paper onto the surface, cover and freeze for 2–3 hours until firm.
8. Without a machine: freeze the base in a shallow metal tray, beating with a fork every 30–45 minutes for 3 hours; or freeze in ice-cube trays and blitz in a food processor until smooth.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Never cook the fruit. Lychee's perfume disappears with heat. Only the syrup is cooked, and it must be cool before mixing.
• Remove the inner skin. The thin brown membrane next to the stone is bitter and tough. Peel it away when preparing fresh fruit.
• Sieve the purée. Lychee flesh has fibres that stay stringy when frozen; sieving makes the sorbet silky.
• Add lime. Lychees are sweet but low in acid, and taste flat when frozen without it. Lime also keeps the purée from browning.
• Go easy on rosewater. A few drops reinforce the lychee's own scent; any more and it overpowers the fruit.
• Adjust sugar for tinned fruit. Tinned lychees and their syrup are already sweet; reduce the added sugar or the sorbet will not set firm.

vi. Variations

Lychee rose sorbet uses a full teaspoon of rosewater and is lovely with raspberries. Lychee martini sorbet adds 2 tbsp vodka, which also softens the texture. Lychee and ginger steeps a few slices of fresh ginger in the warm syrup, strained before mixing. Lychee and coconut replaces the water with coconut milk for a creamier, Thai-inspired ice. Lychee and mint blends a small handful of fresh mint into the purée.

For more fruit sorbets on DessertCat, see the vivid dragon fruit sorbet, a sharp raspberry sorbet and the herby lemon basil sorbet. In Asian desserts, lychees appear in Thai tub tim krob and in shaved ice such as ais kacang.

vii. Serving & storage

Serve lychee sorbet in small scoops after a rich or spicy meal — Cantonese, Thai, Sichuan or Indian — as a cool, fragrant finish. It pairs well with raspberries, sliced mango, passion fruit or fresh lychees, and a few crystallised rose petals or pistachios make a pretty garnish. A scoop in a glass of sparkling wine is a simple party dessert.

Store in a sealed container with baking paper on the surface for up to 2 weeks; its perfume is strongest within the first few days. Let it soften at room temperature for 5–10 minutes before scooping. Being made from fruit, sugar and water, it is vegan, dairy-free and gluten-free.

ix. More from North American

• Dragon Fruit Sorbet — magenta pitaya ice
• Raspberry Sorbet — sharp, intense berry sorbet
• Lemon Basil Sorbet — herbal citrus sorbet
• Tub Tim Krob — Thai 'rubies' in coconut milk
• Ais Kacang — Malaysian shaved ice
• Rainbow Sherbet — three-flavour summer scoop