Litchis, dried

Dried litchis shrink into a chewy, raisin-like fruit with a concentrated floral-sweet flavor reminiscent of the fresh fruit's rose and grape notes. They're eaten out of hand as a snack, added to trail mixes, simmered into compotes, or steeped in tea and dessert soups in Chinese and Southeast Asian cooking. The papery skin turns brittle and dark brown as it dries, and the flesh inside stays sticky and dense, clinging to a single smooth seed that's discarded before eating. A few pieces chopped into a rice pudding, oatmeal, or a fruit and nut mix bring a distinctly floral sweetness that dried apricots or raisins don't offer.

Buy them in sealed bags and keep them in an airtight container in a cool, dry spot, since the concentrated sugars can attract moisture and cause clumping. At only 3 g per fruit, a handful adds up quickly: the fruit carries 66.1 g of sugar per 100 g alongside 203% DV vitamin C, 24% DV potassium, and 16% DV fiber, so it functions more as a fruit-based sweet snack for occasional use than an everyday fruit serving in large amounts. Because the fruit is so concentrated by drying, a small handful goes further in a recipe than the same weight of fresh fruit would.