Innovative Strategies for Sustainable Lychee Processing

Abstract

Litchi chinensis Sonn. is a non-climacteric fruit cultivated in many subtropical areas around the world (Kadam and Deshpande, 1995). In accordance with its main usage as fresh or canned fruit, most studies on the utilisation of lychees describe aspects of cultivars such as their nutritional parameters (Menzel and Simpson, 1991; Kadam and Deshpande, 1995), the discolouration of the pericarp during marketing of fresh fruits (Underhill and Critchley, 1995; Holcroft and Mitcham, 1996; Ray, 1998; Sarni-Manchado et al., 2000) or the risk of pink discolouration of the fruit flesh during canning (Wu and Fang, 1993; Wu and Sheu, 1996). In view of increasing export markets, recent research has focused primarily on the postharvest biology and technology of lychee fruits, with the aim of producing light-coloured, chemical-free fruits without disease or insect infestation (Jiang et al., 2003). The fruits are appreciated for their fine flavour. The nutritional value of lychees is based on vitamin C which is found in its edible aril generally at levels of 40–90 mg/100 g (Kadam and Deshpande, 1995). However, this value is subject to great variation, depending on the cultivar, cultivation area, storage and processing conditions, and can be significantly lower in some cases (Ramma et al., 2003).