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Madame Lala was right. Malagasy litchi are worlds apart from Chinese lychee. They both look very similar although the Malagasy versions are a little smaller. They both have that red almost shell-like hard skin but you can peel the local ones without biting the skin and it is far looser some it comes off far more easily and it drips as you finish peeling it so you have to have a cloth in your hand/over your shorts.
Then, when you put one in your mouth, it's heaven. It is pure sweetness. I have never tasted anything so sweet. It is sweeter than sugar or honey and it doesn't have that awful perfume and aftertaste that Chinese lychees have. You may like them and it. I don't. I love litchi.
And there's my problem. In the market they are 600Ar (18/19p) a kilo! I, of course, bought mine in ShopRite so I paid 400(12p?) for half a kilo and having eaten half the packet without thinking of anything but pure, unbridled pleasure I twigged that I ought to stop. Very difficult.
It's the reason I am writing this now, so that I don't finish them. Litchi are the best thing about Tana that I have yet discovered. End of story. If ever you want to visit Madagascar visit in litchi season which started last week. I just hope it goes on until August.
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