Litchi Production
Whether you call it litchi or lychee, we love it! As with Papaya, we have been evaluating different cultivars for many years. The characteristics we focus on when looking for new varieties are eating quality, fruit size, shelf life, brix, seed size and seedlessness. Our dream has always been to have a five month litchi season, something that has not been achieved anywhere in the world by a single producer. Although only in small volumes, we are proud to say that this dream has been achieved for the first time during the 2013/2014 season. This was the result of careful selection of specific cultivars grown in different microclimates.
Early Delight
- Cultivar owned by ARC
- Mauritius parentage
- Slightly bigger than Mauritius
- Good eating quality
- Smaller seed than Mauritius
- High yielding
- Early season: Oct – Nov
- Ren skin colour
Third Month Red
- Earliest cultivar
- Good size / Large
- Good red skin colour
Fai Zee Siu
- Similar and/or bigger than Mauritius (very big)
- Generally small seed
- Green-red/pink colour
- Excellent eating quality
- Excellent shelf life
- Early season: Oct – Nov
Mauritius
- Standard South African variety
- Good size/large
- Red skin colour
- Excellent eating quality
- Good yield
- Mid season: Nov – Dec
Wai Chee
- Smaller in size than Mauritius
- Fragrant taste, good eating quality
- Small seed
- Late season (mid Jan – end Feb)
Maguili
- Larger in size than Mauritius
- Good eating quality (Soft flesh/Sweet)
- Very late (Feb – Mar)
Besides pursuing characteristics such as early or late season the Neofresh team is also evaluating other niche characteristics such as seedlessness.
Neo-licious ®, Neo-mungeous ®
We have selected varieties with the following characteristics in common:
- Noticeably big in size,
- Large percentage of “chicken tongue” seed (almost seedless),
- Unique taste,
- “wow” factor!
We are grouping them and branding them exclusively for niche markets. We believe that these cultivars are the future of the litchi industry and will eventually replace traditional cultivars in the marketplace. Yes, they are that good!