Tinned lychees are the easiest way to consume them. Unfortunately, the fresh variety is few and far between. But perhaps you’re lucky enough to come across a market selling fresh lychees so have bulk bought them…
It sounded like a good idea at the time, right? Now you don’t know what to do with them so why not ask yourself: Can you freeze lychees or not?
Lychees can be frozen for up to 6 months. When freezing lychees, the outer skin will go brown and dodgy but the inside flesh will remain delicious and perfectly edible.
Do Do Lychees freeze well? Yes
Can you refreeze Lychees? No
How To Freeze Lychees
All you need to do is follow these three simple instructions:
- Clean
Firstly, make sure your lychees are clean of dirt and bugs. You don’t want to freeze dirt to the outside of your lychees nor do you want to freeze them with bugs. - Bag Up
Place your lychees into a freezer bag. Seal the bag up squeezing out as much of the air as possible. - Freeze
Put your bag of lychees into the freezer.
No, really… That’s it!
3 Tips for Freezing Lychees
Now you know how to freeze lychees, we’ve got our 3 top tips which we strongly recommend following when freezing them to have the best results:
Don’t Faff
When it comes to freezing lychees, you want the least amount of faff. That means no cutting, slicing, peeling, pureeing. Clean them up and then place them into the freezer whole. It’s rare that freezing whole fruits works but it does with lychees.
Thaw Slowly
If you try to speed up the thawing, you’ll end up with mushy lychees. Instead, let them thaw slowly overnight in the fridge.
Keep the Skin On
The natural skin acts as a layer of protection from oxidation. It’s there so why not use it… Keep that skin on!
How Long Can You Freeze Lychees?
Like most products in the freezer, if you leave them in there too long then the texture will degrade. The same can be said about lychees.
That’s why we would recommend consuming your frozen lychees within 6 months to avoid any unpleasant texture changes.
Make sure you get that sharpie out so you can label your bags of lychees with the date by which they must be consumed.
You Can Freeze Lychees for Around 6 Months
How Do You Defrost Lychees?
The easiest solution for defrosting lychees is to place them in a bowl in the fridge overnight.
The lychees can become quite soft when fully thawed, however, so it can be quite a good idea to try and remove the skin as they’re defrosting so you don’t damage the fruit itself.
You can also throw frozen lychees (without the skin) straight into a blender to create a delicious smoothie.
Can You Refreeze Lychees?
Refreezing lychees is not something we would recommend. You risk completely altering the texture, unfortunately. They can then become mushy and unenjoyable.
Instead, try to only thaw the ones you know you will consume.
Do Lychees Freeze Well?
They do freeze particularly well.
What often happens, however, is that the outer skin discolours in the freezer especially if oxidation occurs. They’ll turn slightly dull and even brown which makes it look like they’ve gone bad.
Don’t fret, however. The outer skin might look a bit dodgy but the inside will be perfectly fine.
Make sure you thoroughly defrost your lychees and peel them before discarding them as off as you’ll often be pleasantly surprised to find your lychees are fine.
Related FAQs
If you’ve still got questions about freezing lychees or lychees in general, then these may help:
Can You Eat Frozen Lychees?
With the method above, we’ve kept the skin on. The skin acts as an extra layer of protection from smells and oxidation in the freezer. That will make eating them frozen tough.
Having said that, if you let them soften slightly you can remove the skin and enjoy your semi-frozen lychees. They’re almost like instant sorbet!
Can You Freeze Canned Lychees?
There really is no point. Canned lychees will have an incredibly extended shelf-life so you’re better just keeping them stored away in the cupboard until you’re ready to eat them up.
