Chinese lychee bears sweetness in Mexican homes

MEXICO CITY — While China is in the depths of summer, Mexico enters its rainiest season of the year. During breaks between rainfall, crowds hit the streets for sunshine and a sweet fruit from China — lychee.

For many visitors to Mexico, lychee is something they don't expect to see. However, the sweet, fleshy fruit is a popular item on households' seasonal grocery lists.

Few know that lychee trees have grown in Mexico for over a millennium. In the late 19th century, hundreds of Chinese workers migrated to Mexico, and many settled in Sinaloa on the northwest coast. Local legend says the first lychee trees were cultivated with seeds taken from the migrants' homeland and were gifted to Sinaloa's governor.

In an evolutionary journey beginning from Chinese lychee seeds, commercial farming in Mexico didn't take off until the 1970s. After that, the seasonal fruit didn't take long to find its way into the locals' daily lives. Liliana, a 37-year-old engineer, says, "they've been a special treat in our home" since her childhood.

The lychee plantation industry in Mexico now spans 13 states, including Veracruz, Puebla and Oaxaca. In 2023, official data showed Mexico produced more than 26,000 metric tons of lychee fruit, largely exported to the North American market.

On US grocery platforms, lychee fruits command a premium price but continue to gain popularity.

"Not as sweet as last year's, but still the best I can find in the US market," one online reviewer wrote. "The season is short, just a few weeks. It is worth savoring while it lasts."

Mexico's story of the lychee mirrors that of migration, of roots transplanted and tastes carried across oceans. In markets from Los Angeles to Merida, the lychee has exotic appeal and the comfort of home.

"I was born and raised in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province," says Zhang Tieliu from the Chinese American Business Association. "I later moved across the ocean for work. The United States doesn't grow lychees, but for Chinese living in North America, that taste of home is something we truly miss."

"Over the years, I dreamed of bringing this South China jewel of fruits to the American market," Zhang says.

"Thanks to breakthroughs in preservation and logistics by Chinese companies and universities, we've finally made that dream a reality — Guangdong lychees now carry their fragrance to North America."

Cold-chain technology accelerates the lychee fruit's global reach. Pre-cooling and fresh-locking methods have helped overcome previous barriers in its trade, facilitating its rise in sales in the international fresh fruit market. From the plantations of Maoming city, Guangdong province, lychee fruits can now reach the Middle East and Europe within three days.

Even today, the lychees in Mexican supermarkets aren't quite what a South China native remembers. They vary in size, sweetness and fleshiness. Yet spotting them on shelves is still a moment of recognition and a thread from home to home.

And so, the lychee continues to bloom far from its native soil as a living bridge between continents.

In Latin America, the lychee is considered a luxury fruit outside Mexico. In Panama, it is called chirimoya china to indicate its origin and exotic flavor. Brazil has thousands of hectares of lychee orchards and continues to expand its cultivation areas.