If you love a lychee but hate a seed, we have good news for you. Tibby Dixon, a farmer from Sarina Beach in Far North Queesland, has successfully developed Australia’s first ever seedless lychee.
But it hasn’t been without hard work. Dixon spent USD5,000 on just one fruit tree from China 19 years ago and has spent the time since selectively breeding and cross-pollinating flowers to achieve the success.
“It’s been a long, hard slog,” Dixon told the ABC when it came to developing the variety.
A farmer for over 40 years, Dixon now spends much of his time growing and selling young trees to other farmers for them to full size and collect the fruit.
What he has created is a medium-sized fruit with no seed that he said is ‘very flavorsome’. “To me, it actually tastes like it has a bit of pineapple in it — that’s what my tastebuds tell me,” he said.
While the news is no doubt exciting, don’t expect to see seedless lychees as your nearest supermarket too soon. “Within a couple of years we should have enough to sell out in commercial numbers,” he said. “You have to ensure that the material you’re going to sell is highly productive.”
However the Camilleri’s Farm Market have released a small selection for local customers to trial.
“We have a unique opportunity for our customers to sample a seedless lychee grown in Sarina by Tibby and Helen Dixon,” they wrote on the Camilleri’s Farm Market Facebook page. “Come into the shop and purchase a kilogram bag of regular lychees and be one of the first people in Australia to have a taste of a seedless lychee.”
The seedless lychees are available in-store at Macs Truckstop, Balberra while stocks last, which we imagine won’t be very long.
Source: Valentina Todoroska