Nuomichi lychee-Wee

[sc4001992]

I noticed that Wee has the Nuomichi lychee fruits for sale.

I hope to taste this fruit which if I remember correctly, Simon said was the best tasting lychee he has had.

The price is not bad since you get 4lbs in the basket, so I purchased one, should get it by Friday and will report back on the taste.

[simon_grow]

Thanks for the heads up, this is the first time I’ve seen it for sale in the USA. I just ordered 4 lbs to try out. Hopefully the hot water treatment or irradiation won’t affect the flavor too much.

I’d love to hear your taste report once you sample them. They also have another variety for sale at Wee called yuhebao. I’ll report back with a taste report once I receive my order on Sunday or Monday.

Simon

[sc4001992]

I got my order tonight at 9pm.

The fruits looked very good, only 2-3 looked over ripe so I didn't eat them.

These fruits seem to be larger than the sweetheart lychees I tasted from a few from two forum member's tree last year.

Simon, I think you are correct, it may be the best tasting lychee of all of them. It is sweet, a little firm and crunchy, no after taste. I would give it a 10. The seeds are all small, but there was one fruit with a larger seed. I liked the sweetheart fruits also, maybe rate that one a 9.

Would be interested in what you think about the tastes.

[spaugh]

I ordered some too thanks Kaz.  I also got the other 2 types they had

[sc4001992]

Brad, that would be good to see what you think. You tasted most of them so I would be interested in the taste comparison with the Kaimana lychee you ate. I was thinking of adding the Kaimana but will wait to hear what you think of this one.

[elouicious]

Ordered some Fei Zi Xiao and Guiwei last night after being inspired by your post kaz-

Didnt spring for the Nuomichi, but if you add them to your cart and then leave the website you get an offer for a discount- Ended up with a steal of a deal for 16lb of Lychee

[spaugh]

Brad, that would be good to see what you think. You tasted most of them so I would be interested in the taste comparison with the Kaimana lychee you ate. I was thinking of adding the Kaimana but will wait to hear what you think of this one.

Did they have kaimanas on wee?

Sidenote, we got lychees from the asian market yesterday for 2$ a lb.  They were pretty good ones for the price.

The kaimanas from Hawaii are super good but they cost a fortune. 

[shot]

 Fei Zi Xiao=sweethart or florida Hak ip lychee

[beicadad]

I could be wrong but I don’t think FZX is sweetheart. The former is partially green when ripe but sweetheart is fully red. I also think sweetheart tastes better

[beicadad]

Brad, that would be good to see what you think. You tasted most of them so I would be interested in the taste comparison with the Kaimana lychee you ate. I was thinking of adding the Kaimana but will wait to hear what you think of this one.

Did they have kaimanas on wee?

Sidenote, we got lychees from the asian market yesterday for 2$ a lb.  They were pretty good ones for the price.

The kaimanas from Hawaii are super good but they cost a fortune.

I thought the kaimana from Hawaii is pretty good but it lacks the complexity compared to top varieties like NMT. Guiwei or Kwai Mai or Kwai Mei is supposed to be very flavorful too, but I haven’t tried it

[shot]

I could be wrong but I don’t think FZX is sweetheart. The former is partially green when ripe but sweetheart is fully red. I also think sweetheart tastes better

It was confirmed by a Chinese professor more than 15 years ago.He was in Florida for a lychee symposium.They all get fully red with maturity.I have both growing in my grove and Nuomici all fruited for decades.

[spaugh]

I got my lychee today.  The nomichi are good but I would say the kaimana from HI are better.  These are not super fresh.  The ones from HI are perfectly ripe and all look really clean and dark red, juicy and sweet.  These came from China and not looking as dark red and not as juicy. Flavor wise, I think thry are pretty similar. 

For the money, the 2$ per pound stuff at the local store are pretty good to me. 

[Galatians522]

I could be wrong but I don’t think FZX is sweetheart. The former is partially green when ripe but sweetheart is fully red. I also think sweetheart tastes better

It was confirmed by a Chinese professor more than 15 years ago.He was in Florida for a lychee symposium.They all get fully red with maturity.I have both growing in my grove and Nuomici all fruited for decades.

Thank you! Its good to have official confirmation. I agree, sweetheart is FZX and that it is ripe with green on it--I actually prefer it when it still has some green. I am going to say that the person who gave it the English name knew that, too. I am told that FZX in Chinese means "Royal Concubine's Laugh." A royal concubine would be the Emperor's sweet heart. So, that all fits to me. There does seem to be a slight difference between the mis-identified "Florida Hak Ip" and Sweet Heart. What Mike T said about there being different strains of FZX makes a lot of sense to me. Just like Sweet Song appears to be a strain of Tai So (Mauritius).

[simon_grow]

I just received my order and these Noumichi were just Ok. Whatever they did to these fruit really killed the flavor. Not sure if it was hot water treated or irradiated or just the transport time but these taste like generic Lychees. From the pebbly skin, color, shape and taste, they are the real No Mai Tsze but don’t even come close to the fresh ones in Hong Kong and China.

In Asia, they sell the lychees still attached to the panicles and often with the branch and some leaves. These fruit have no distinguishing taste profile other than sweet with a tiny bit of subacid. There is no Lychee flavor or so little that it’s hardly noticeable.

The one thing that anyone that purchased these fruit may notice is that it is a dry type Lychee and when you peel the skin off, very little juice leaks out. When you peel something like a Brewster or Sweetheart, juice gushes out everywhere.

Here’s a picture of a peeled Noumichi fruit, notice how dry the flesh is


Pebbly looking peel characteristic of this variety


Noumichi next to some frozen Kaimana


Brix for the Noumichi averaged around 15% with a high of 15.6%

I would not judge No Mai Tsze from these fruit.

Simon

[shot]

Spot on Simon,good reserved judgment!As you know if they proper they are on another level.

[shot]

Galatians522

I don't know why it took so long for us in Florida to connect the dots,the Aussie had it right from the start!That is were i seen the clues first to are mislabeling back around early 2000s with an article rare fruit council of Australia quarterly.Then their color printed publications, the Chinese professor was the confirmation for Fei Zi Xiao riddle .

[elouicious]

got my lychee and I can officially say- 16lbs is too much lychee

this is roughly half



Ive been eating my fill of them fresh- but also decided to dehydrate and freeze some- they are very different so I am glad I got both vars

The Fei Zi Xiao (Sweetheart?)
These were giant and juicy- a good amount of acid to balance the sweetness- delicious


The Guiwei
These were smaller but had a much more complex, floral almost balsamy flavor. I actually enjoyed these more than the FZX which goes to show sweetness isnt everything

[spaugh]

got my lychee and I can officially say- 16lbs is too much lychee

this is roughly half



Ive been eating my fill of them fresh- but also decided to dehydrate and freeze some- they are very different so I am glad I got both vars

The Fei Zi Xiao (Sweetheart?)
These were giant and juicy- a good amount of acid to balance the sweetness- delicious


The Guiwei
These were smaller but had a much more complex, floral almost balsamy flavor. I actually enjoyed these more than the FZX which goes to show sweetness isnt everything

16lbs is a lot.  You can vac pack and freze some.  Soon you will also have too much avocados to eat. 

I got some of the green ones and thought they were pretty good too.  Just as good as the nomichi

[elouicious]

got my lychee and I can officially say- 16lbs is too much lychee

this is roughly half



Ive been eating my fill of them fresh- but also decided to dehydrate and freeze some- they are very different so I am glad I got both vars

The Fei Zi Xiao (Sweetheart?)
These were giant and juicy- a good amount of acid to balance the sweetness- delicious


The Guiwei
These were smaller but had a much more complex, floral almost balsamy flavor. I actually enjoyed these more than the FZX which goes to show sweetness isnt everything

16lbs is a lot.  You can vac pack and freze some.  Soon you will also have too much avocados to eat. 

I got some of the green ones and thought they were pretty good too.  Just as good as the nomichi

I had to admit to my wife that I made an error haha

Looking forward to the Avos as well! at least she likes them so I shouldnt get too much gruff

[sc4001992]

Simon, since I have never tasted the Kaimana, I couldn't compare the taste to Noumichi.

You had the Kaimana fresh at Brad's so what is your review of the two fruits? Do you like the fresh Hawaii Kaimana more than these Weee Noumichi?

I purchased a second box of the Noumichi and I still think it tastes better than any other variety that I had.

[fruit4me]

Lychees usually loses aroma and flavor within 3 days. Even with refrigeration, flavors are still lost. So all of these store bought lychees don't do them any justice.  I've had Kaimana from Hawaii before. Those are the only ones that i considered the best for imported fruits. It's good,  but not great. Lack of complexity and aroma. I need to fruit it from my own tree to give it a chance. Most of the varieties i have are fruiting this year except for Kaimana and Sweetcliff. For me, so far NMZ is the best, and Heung Lai is pretty darn close.

[beicadad]

I could be wrong but I don’t think FZX is sweetheart. The former is partially green when ripe but sweetheart is fully red. I also think sweetheart tastes better

It was confirmed by a Chinese professor more than 15 years ago.He was in Florida for a lychee symposium.They all get fully red with maturity.I have both growing in my grove and Nuomici all fruited for decades.

Thank you! Its good to have official confirmation. I agree, sweetheart is FZX and that it is ripe with green on it--I actually prefer it when it still has some green. I am going to say that the person who gave it the English name knew that, too. I am told that FZX in Chinese means "Royal Concubine's Laugh." A royal concubine would be the Emperor's sweet heart. So, that all fits to me. There does seem to be a slight difference between the mis-identified "Florida Hak Ip" and Sweet Heart. What Mike T said about there being different strains of FZX makes a lot of sense to me. Just like Sweet Song appears to be a strain of Tai So (Mauritius).

Good to know. It’s interesting how the cultivar name changes. If true, it seems that I like sweetheart better because it’s picked more ripe? In my experience though, sweetheart loses green color quite long before it’s fully ripe.

[Galatians522]

Good to know. It’s interesting how the cultivar name changes. If true, it seems that I like sweetheart better because it’s picked more ripe? In my experience though, sweetheart loses green color quite long before it’s fully ripe.
[/quote]

There is a huge amount of confusion regarding lychee names in Florida. You are not alone in liking Sweetheart better. One of the distinctions to me is that SH has a little less of the lychee medicinal taste than the mis-identified Florida Hak Ip. Some people prefer it fully ripe, some like it with green mottling (like me), and apparently some people pick fully green. I wonder if our warmer weather here in Florida lets them sweeten sooner in the ripening process?

[simon_grow]

Simon, since I have never tasted the Kaimana, I couldn't compare the taste to Noumichi.

You had the Kaimana fresh at Brad's so what is your review of the two fruits? Do you like the fresh Hawaii Kaimana more than these Weee Noumichi?

I purchased a second box of the Noumichi and I still think it tastes better than any other variety that I had.

Hey Kaz,

The fresh Hawaiian Kaimana were better than the imported No Mai Tsze. The Kaimana at least had a hint of Lychee/rose scent and flavor. It is also large, sweet, juicy and just tasted fresher than the No Mai Tsze.

The NMT weren’t bad but I know how they taste when they are fresh and there is no comparison. The NMT just tasted like a generic Lychee from the supermarket.

Simon

[sc4001992]

Ok, thanks for the feedback on the Kaimana. I will need to see if I can get someone I know in Hawaii to send me some if they still have it ripe at the market.