From Lychees Online
by Krystal Folino and Bill Mee
5 Tips for Making a Good Lychee Martini
Use a good source of lychee flavor:
One
of the most important characteristics of a lychee martini is the
wonderful sweet fragrance and flavor of the fresh lychee fruit. A good
lychee martini should smell and taste like lychee. As the martini is
slowly sipped it should conjure up images of exotic and far away
tropical places. The more authentic is the lychee flavoring the better
the drinking experience.
The best choice for flavoring is lychee
syrup. Although some people like to use lychee liqueur the flavoring of
different brands can vary and they have, in our opinion, an underlying
processed taste.
Our all natural lychee syrup is made from fresh
lychee and has a pleasant natural yellow blush and imparts great flavor
and color to this popular drink. High quality lychee syrup is available
in our shopping cart.
Many people resort to using the syrup from
canned lychees. This is an absolute last resort and we do not recommend
it because it's cloudy, the lychees used in canning are the lychees
that were not high enough in quality to be sold fresh and canned lychee
syrup is tainted by the metal from the can as is the case with most
tinned fruit.
If you have neither the liqueur or the syrup you
can use lychee juice. Ceres of South Africa makes an excellent all
natural lychee juice that is diluted with pear juice.
Garnish:
In
the same way that a fine martini is garnished with an olive or an
onion, a first class lychee martini should be garnished with 1 or 2
peeled and seeded lychees on a skewer. Since lychees have a relatively
short season in the Northern hemisphere (approximately 7 weeks) it is
not always possible to get a fresh lychee for your drink.
Frozen
lychees retain most all of the flavor and fragrance of the fresh fruit
and should be used whenever the fresh fruit are not available. Frozen
lychees are often available in Oriental or Pan Asian food markets and
they also can be obtained from lyheesonline outside of the regular
season (May 15th - July 7th).
If you cannot obtain either fresh
or frozen lychees and your special event absolutely needs that look and
feel of a genuine lychee in your martini you can resort to using canned
lychees with the following caveats. Use a high quality syrup for the
flavoring and drain and rinse the canned lychees in fresh filtered
water prior to using them as a garnish.
The leaves of lychee
trees are dark green and shiny so the addition of a mint leaf, besides
adding freshness, helps to create a leafy ambience. Dressing the rim of
the martini glass with crystallized ginger gives the drink a distinctly
oriental flavor. Slowly sipping a martini with this unusual mix of
garnishes, conjures up images of mist enshrouded mountain rain forests
of Southern China, the ancestral home of the lychee.
Use the highest quality vodka:
Vodka
comes in many different qualities and flavors. Generally speaking, the
more times a vodka has been distilled and filtered the smoother and
better tasting it is. You will pay considerably more for a high quality
vodka, but the extra expense is worth it if you are constructing your
lychee martini from other high quality components such as lychee
liqueur, syrup and fresh lychees as garnish.
If you are not sure
about the quality of your vodka you can refer to the Beverage Tasting
Institute of Chicago's 1998 blind taste test of 40 vodkas. This test
rated Grey Goose, Canadian Iceberg and Stolichnaya Gold Vodka at the
top and Smirnoff, Belvedere Schenley and Mr. Boston's at the bottom of
the list.
If you don't like vodka or are uncomfortable with a
high alcoholic content drink you can use champagne, sake or soju, a
unique Asian alcohol made from rice, barley and other ingredients that
is often substituted for vodka.
Color and Presentation:
Adding
some coloration can make the martini more visually appealing. Try
mixing in a drop of Grenadine (artificial pomegranate juice) or
cranberry to give the drink the red color of actual ripe lychees. Our
syrup is naturally yellow. This imparts a pleasant yellow tint to the
martini whereas canned syrup is cloudy and not especially attractive. A
mint leaf adds a touch of green color which is reminiscent of lychee
trees. You can also add Midori for an additional green tint.
Experiment with other ingredients:
Aside
from adding different strengths of lychee liqueur, lychee syrup, lychee
juice and garnishing of varying freshness there are many other
potential variations upon which you can build your lychee martini.
Vermouth has been a classic additive to martinis. Grand Marnier,
Cointreau, Triple Sec and Midori are alternative liqueurs that can be
successfully blended into a lychee martini with varying affects.
Various fruit juices blended with lychee, grenadine and lychee syrup
can add flavor and color to your drink and should be experimented with.
By Krystal Folino and Bill Mee, Lychees Online
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