The small fruits, up to 1.5 inches in diameter, have a thin skin that is light pink to deep red in color. Inside is a translucent white fruit—in our opinion, one of the delights of the fruit kingdom.

Lychee is also known as a Chinese Cherry, although it’s not related to the cherry—the lychee tree is an evergreen. It’s also called a lychee nut, but it’s not a nut: It gets that name from its large pit, which looks like a nut. That’s also why it’s called a Chinese cherry—after you enjoy the succulent fruit, you need to dispose of the pit.

You’ll also find alternative spellings, such as litchi and litchee.
You can find canned lychee year-round, and they’re enjoyable. But as with canned peaches, pineapple and other fruits, the fresh version is even more special.

If you can’t find fresh lychees locally (look in produce specialty stores and Asian markets), you can buy them online from Melissa’s.

There are also:

 
In Asia, the lychee is usually served by itself for dessert, or combined with other fresh fruits. That’s a terrific way to enjoy them; but the only limit is your imagination. Try these recipes:

Lychees are a good source of vitamin C and phosphorus. They should not be peeled until just before they are served. Remove the peel and the black pit (seed). When cooking with lychees, add them at the last minute to maintain the most flavor and aroma.

As lychees age off the vine, the reddish-pink color turns brown—still fine to eat, but a bit less moist. To keep lychees fresh, wrap them in a paper towel and store in a perforated plastic bag in the produce drawer.

Time to plan a lychee martini party!
  

Take a seat in the classroom and earn
an MBA in food and wine. Photo
courtesy University of Bologna.

Start with an MBA in Food & Wine, given for the first time by the Alma Graduate School of Business at the University of Bologna, in Italy.

The one-year intensive program is taught in Engish.

Why Italy? According to the school’s website, the food and wine industries worldwide seek managers to capitalize on global market opportunities. Italy has developed a specific knowledge in this field.

The Food and Wine concentration focuses on the most successful Italian enterprises in the gastronomy and enology sectors, drawing upon Italy’s rich tradition, successful practices and quality of its products.

Ten full scholarships are available; the application deadline is July 15th and the program begins in September 2011. A minimum of two years of business experience is required.

Learn more at the Alma Graduate School website.

Beer-making kits, developed by the Brooklyn Brew Shop, make it easy for anyone to brew delicious beer at home.

It’s a gift any beer lover would like: the ability to experience first-hand what it takes to make a delicious brew.

The kit includes the finest barley, hops, yeast and spices, plus step-by-step instructions. You’ll see how easy it is to craft an all-natural home brew that’s as good as artisanal beers served at the best brew pubs.

Choose either fresh, light summer wheat beer or India Pale Ale (IPA), known for its bold, hops-intensive flavor. (Or why choose? Brew both!)

 
The craft brewing kit is available from Williams-Sonoma. One kit is $39.95.

The entire brewing process takes about 17 days. If you start now, you can brew Dad or Hubby his own batch as a Father’s Day gift.

Both of you might just turn into avid homebrewers. Check out the Home Brewing Association.

Brush up on your beer types in our Beer Glossary.

Asparagus: now in season, but not for long!
Photo courtesy California Asparagus Commission.

Like the idea of eating seasonal produce grown on local farms, but wonder what’s in season in your area?

Climates in the U.S. vary widely. What’s seasonal in California isn’t the same as what’s seasonal in New York or Indiana.

But there’s an easy search tool to find out exactly what’s in season in your locavore universe. Just head to SimpleSteps.org and select your state.

The website will also tell you where all your local farmers markets are, and even include directions by car, bike, walking and public transit.

SimpleSteps.org is a great resource that covers all smarter living topics, including household savings calculators and conservation tips for people who care about the planet. For example:

If a quarter of the households in the United States replaced one incandescent with one compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL), it would save as much carbon dioxide (a major greenhouse gas that impacts climate change) as planting 257,215 acres of forest. (All plants absorb carbon dioxide for photosynthesis; forests absorb a large amount of it.)

Don’t like the light from CFLs? The site advises looking for bulbs with a Kelvin temperature between 3,000k and 3,500k. They give off the familiar warm glow of incandescent bulbs.

We’re off to pick up seasonal produce and CFLs.
  

With a bounty of strawberries and blueberries now entering the market, Wendy’s has introduced its new seasonal Berry Almond Chicken Salad.

The salad is freshly prepared in-store with fresh blueberries, fresh California strawberries, California almonds roasted with sea salt, shaved Asiago cheese and a sliced warm grilled chicken breast, all over a bed of 11 different types of freshly chopped field greens. Topping it off is the restaurant’s fat-free raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

You can enjoy the salad at Wendy’s for lunch or a light, healthy dinner, or create it at home simply by purchasing the ingredients You can expand to other types of berries, including blackberries and raspberries, as well.

Don’t worry about the 11 different field greens.

“Field greens” salad mixes can include arugula, baby spinach, dandelion greens, endive, frisée, green chard and red chard, green and red mustard greens, green and red romaine lettuce, lollo rossa lettuce, mizuna, perella, radicchio, red leaf lettuce, Russian kale, tango and tatsoi.

That’s a much more interesting palette than a plain bed of iceberg or romaine lettuce.

A bit of digression on fat-free dressings: You may want to avoid sugar rather than fat.

As we noted in our recent post on healthy fats, monounsaturated fats (“good fats”) are an important part of a healthy diet. While all fats average 100 calories a tablespoon, monounsaturated fats are calories well spent. The refined sugar and corn syrup found in salad dressing have little nutritional value, and comprise liabilities rather than benefits.

Avocado oil, canola oil, olive oil and peanut oil are rich in monounsaturated fat and deliver many health benefits, including:

 
Many people enjoy bottled dressings, but read the labels! You can enjoy a better dressing—and a less expensive one—by mixing three tablespoons of olive oil (or other monounsaturated oil) with a tablespoon of raspberry vinegar.

It takes the same amount of time to whisk oil and vinegar together as it does to open the fridge, remove the bottle of salad dressing and take off the cap.