Author Topic: lychees and mangoes at Saigon Market and question on mango trees  (Read 3204 times)

mathmom

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We just returned from Orlando (took our 13 yr old son to do the theme parks) and I convinced my guys to take a detour to buy fruit at Saigon Market.  (Orlando traffic is horrible!)  Thanks to you folks for the tip on this store!  This was June 11th, and we were able to buy lychees.  They had 3 types--we bought the ones the lady said were Mauritius, for $3.99/lb.  They certainly matched the description.  They were fabulous.  I managed to gain weight on vacation despite walking all day long in that heat and humidity and I honestly think it's because I stuffed myself with lychees every night.  The clerk didn't know the names of the other two varieties they had.  One was smaller, with softer flesh, priced at $2.99/lb. and while good, it wasn't as good as the Mauritius.  The other was too pricey at $6.99./lb, and she said they had small seeds.  I didn't sample that variety.  We carried the leftovers home on the plane, no problem.  We ate the last of them last night.  These were far superior to the Sweethearts I ordered from Lycheesonline.  I concluded that the Sweethearts were picked too early for shipment.  Very acidic, and not terribly sweet.  Now I have my son hooked on lychees (hubby not so much) so I feel I've passed down my Chinese heritage.  I told him the story of Lady Yang Guifei to really complete the experience.  I'm considering buying an Emperor tree to grow in a pot (Z6).

I also bought a pack of 4 mangoes, of which 2 were Mexican Ataulfo type and two were green and apparently local (no label), probably NDM.  The lady said "we call them Doc Mai", and they match all the photos I've seen.  No fiber.  They were just starting to sweeten up, and past the hard stage.  Naturally, I saved the seeds to start at home.

Quick question on mango trees--I ordered two Mallika mango trees from PIN and had one sent to my Mom in California.  I'm in Washington State.  Both our trees suffered from leaves turning brown starting at the edges.  Then we both had a lot of leaf drop.  Mine has recovered (started growing while I was in Florida!) but my Mom's has apparently croaked.  She'll hang on to it for a while just in case it decided to do something.  Pretty expensive dead tree, with shipping to CA.  What does the browning from the edges indicate?  I really want to pug my tree but I will definitely let it settle in and grow for a while before doing anything that drastic.

TIA




fruitlovers

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Re: lychees and mangoes at Saigon Market and question on mango trees
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2013, 07:04:17 AM »
Sounds like you all had a good time. Curious, what is the story of Lady Yang Guifei?
Oscar

TropicalFruitHunters

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Re: lychees and mangoes at Saigon Market and question on mango trees
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2013, 07:22:24 AM »
You might want to contact PIN about your moms tree.  They may replace it.

Tim

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Re: lychees and mangoes at Saigon Market and question on mango trees
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2013, 10:29:41 AM »
haha my wife told me the Yang Guifei story when I wasn't remotely interested in lychees  ;D
Tim

nullzero

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Re: lychees and mangoes at Saigon Market and question on mango trees
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2013, 11:26:51 AM »
The lychees look pretty pricey. I just picked up some lychees from the Ranch 99 market near Little India for $1.79 a pound. Quality was a consistent and good.

Congrats though on the find, sounds like you enjoyed the fruits a lot  ;D.
Grow mainly fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

fruitlovers

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Re: lychees and mangoes at Saigon Market and question on mango trees
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2013, 04:06:41 AM »
Kaimana lychees selling for about $3 a pound here this year. Probably the worst lychee season i can remember here. :'( Even so my neighbor just told me he picked a whopping 30,000 pounds of Kaimana lychees off an orchard with 200 trees.
Oscar

mathmom

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Re: lychees and mangoes at Saigon Market and question on mango trees
« Reply #6 on: June 22, 2013, 07:05:48 PM »
Oscar, here's the best concise telling of the story I could find:
http://www1.chinaculture.org/library/2008-02/08/content_22669.htm

ohiojay, I took your suggestion and contacted PIN.  We're working on it.  My mom will send photos so I can see if there is live wood above the graft.  I explained to PIN that my mom has an incredibly green thumb. She fruits pineapples in her dining room and greenhouse in the (cooler) SF Bay Area.  She has grown orchids for 40-plus years.  Now she's harvesting huge heirloom tomatoes from her greenhouse.

Nullzero--I thought $3.99/lb for really good lychees was reasonable after paying $25/lb to have them shipped to my home! 

Barb

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Re: lychees and mangoes at Saigon Market and question on mango trees
« Reply #7 on: June 22, 2013, 07:32:58 PM »
Oscar, here's the best concise telling of the story I could find:
http://www1.chinaculture.org/library/2008-02/08/content_22669.htm


Barb

Thanks Barb for the link. Is  Yang Guifei the one that laughing concubine lychee is named after?
Oscar

Mike T

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Re: lychees and mangoes at Saigon Market and question on mango trees
« Reply #8 on: June 22, 2013, 07:52:21 PM »
It would be good to know Yang Guifei's story. Some of the lesser lychees are named after unusual things like, minister embrace (seong sue wai), ladies shoe (ah neong hai), sweet cliff or rock (tim naan) or glutinous rice cake (no mai chee). I presume seong sue wai has a fairly superficial flavour and neong hai has an earthy character.

mathmom

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Re: lychees and mangoes at Saigon Market and question on mango trees
« Reply #9 on: June 23, 2013, 11:41:37 PM »
Oscar, I have no idea if she is the one.  Wouldn't surprise me, though!