What is the season and where are they grown? (I’d always assumed they were shipped to us in the GBA from elsewhere.)
To start answering my own question, it appears that the nearest to us that Lychees are grown is Florida, and that their season runs from May through July. Whole Foods has carried them in the past, and they’ve been quite good, and reliably so. I’ve gotten good ones from H-Mart but have also seen moldy ones there.
Arax in Watertown has also carried them in the past. They have good fruit and a good selection.
Yes, now that you mention it, I remember them there. And, as you say, their quality is generally good.
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Missed this. Sorry, but I guess you answered your own question. From personal experience, the early season fruit is much like the watermelons you start to see now. Not so good, but there may be some exceptions. Usually July through August is when I see a lot of lychee, and some of the Chinese markets will often have sales given the abundance. They start to wane again after September.
They thrive in warmer, humid climates so Florida makes sense, but given some of the political insanity going on there now, it does not bode well for Florida produce this season.
What I’m about to say below broadly fits under the umbrella of the title of this thread. I’ve stumbled upon an extraordinary delivery and food service, Bombay Brunch, in the GBA that specializes in Maharashtrian food (@Amandarama alert). For those unfamiliar with the cuisine, see here. They seem to operate out of Charlestown (or possibly Somerville) with pickup locations there but also $5 delivery in Cambridge, Watertown, Belmont, Arlington, etc.
They are uncompromisingly focused on this one cuisine, offering things that you won’t get elsewhere in the Boston area, and indeed most areas in the U.S.: Bhakri (a rustic flatbread) with the choice of bajri (pearl millet), ragi/nachni (finger millet) jowar (sorghum), and rice; snacks such as kothimbir vadi (cilantro squares), sabudaNa vada (tapioca fritters) and a range of unusual vegetable dishes. Everything I’ve had has been excellent, although it’s faintly on the heavy side (for example, the sabudaNa vadi are a little denser than I prefer). But that’s a minor quibble. I plan to get their food often, and so should you.
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Looks great! Unfortunately it appears they won’t deliver to Waltham (and I don’t drive other than, grudgingly, for work). Hopefully they’ll extend their delivery zone at some point.
From a mailing from BB today:
“Delivery: Cambridge/Charlestown/Arlington/Belmont/Somerville/Medford/Winchester
Reach out to Bombay Brunch at 781-207-3245 if you want a delivery in towns that are not listed above.”
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Thanks!
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I turn from the exalted heights of Bombay Brunch just above to the depths of Feast and Fettle (not to give away the ending).
Some kindly, distant relatives took it upon themselves to give us the gift of some meals from F&F, a “food” delivery service. The ordering process was almost inscrutable, and the first brace of meals, which arrived today, essentially inedible. The thick string beans in one side order were raw (al dente carried to new lows) and naked, and came with an acrid chipotle sauce. The herbed roast potatoes were unsalted, mushy and sprinkled with enough rosemary to fill a garden. It took all my powers to make these edible: I rinsed off the excess rosemary from the potatoes, coated them in decent olive oil, salt and pepper, then blasted them at 480 in the toaster oven to give them a crust. Sauteed the string beans in a hot pan with ghee and some salt, till they caramelized in spots. Threw away the sauce.
One of the two mains, grilled chicken breast, was unsalvageable.: semifrozen, dry triangles of chicken, with a raw, pink strip at the center. There was nothing I could think of to make the meat safe while still keeping it edible. I opted for safety, then sliced the over-cooked meat as thinly as I could and served it doused with some excellent cranberry chutney (not from F&F).
The meal came with the weirdest, cotton-wooliest rolls I’ve ever had, weird because interspersed here and there in the cotton wool were tiny pills of almost uncooked dough. I mean, you must have to work hard to achieve that.
To terminate this disaster they offered the two most tasteless chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had. If you didn’t know what you were supposedly eating, you’d easily think it was cardboard.
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Thank you for the data. Feast and Fettle is RI-based and we know one of the majority investors so we’ve considered trying them out but were rebuffed by the prices/our desire to avoid too much packaging.
Ugh. So sorry your lovely gift was such a disappointment.
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Oh my. The complete opposite of a feast and it certainly wasn’t in fine fettle. Thanks for the intel.
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Yes. The gift was meant well, but it raises interesting issues.
The first is that it made me realize anew what a blessed position I’m in. My wife and I are in an extraordinarily busy period right now (hence the feeling among relatives that we might need feeding), but consider what we have access to: Every Tuesday we get meals from Khipi – two days ago it was (a) Irish pork stew, and (b) tamales. Next week I have ordered Trinidadian roti & curry, and beef rendang. All their stuff is very good at worst, and often superb. On Saturdays, we Bombay Brunch it. If we want to cook something fast, we also have a weekly fish delivery from Cape Ann.
Other foods that are within short walking distance (or that deliver locally) are sweet pastries from La Saison (a heavenly pistachio croissant a few days ago), breads from Hi Rise, cheeses and salami from Formaggio – and, of course, extraordinary prepared foods from both of the latter two later in the day, and sandwiches earlier.
(And I’m not even getting into all the food that can be delivered by commercial food delivery services.)
It would be hard for any large scale food service to compare, and as it turned out F&F did not even put up a mild fight.
The other issue is one of gift-giving. It made me realize that one should always ask before giving. Perhaps the recipient doesn’t like white chocolate, or is fussy about food.
(On a final F&F note: It was recommended to us over a year ago by new neighbors in our condo building. Shortly after, when I cooked some dal – with asafoetida in the tadka, yes, but with our kitchen exhaust on – they agitatedly sent an email to all the residents asking what that smell was in the lobby, and could it be a dead rat in the walls? F&F food is tasteless and odorless enough that it would never be confused with a dead rat.)
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OMG - are you Mr. and Mrs. Claus?!
PS - As a kimchee eater, I can totally relate about people complaining about food smells. They don’t know what they’re missing.
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So many things wrong about the action of those email-writing neighbors. 
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On that note:
And sticking to stinking, if anybody ever gets the stinky cheeses from Cato Corner in CT – Hooligan and suchlike – they’ll arrive, although very well wrapped and ice packed, with a warning on the outside “Cheese enclosed. Odor is normal”.
On kimchee: @digga do you ferment your own, or are there brands you recommend? Anything locally made? (In the NY part of my existence, I’ve access to a wide array including a nice trio from the restaurant Danji minutes from my apartment.)
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I almost made a joke about stinky cheese (which I love) but exercised uncharacteristic restraint. Prufrock from Martha’s Vineyard is the funkiest, smelliest cheese I have yet to encounter. That aroma dominated our fridge, to the extent we had to get rid of it before we could eat the whole delicious cheese.
Or if anybody is in need of other pungency, perhaps I could be bribed to prepare some Christmas foods of my Central European heritage. Like freshly ground horseradish, which has the power to clear a room if not a building as it’s being prepared. Power foods!
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May you be paid (not “bribed”) to offer a stinky food delivery service?
Yes, the odor of cheese really builds up in confined spaces such as fridges – or dorm rooms. Three decades ago while doing some research at Brookhaven National Lab that involved many long hours of continuous work, I was given a small room where I could nap from time to time. It was basically a dorm room, but it came with services – the room was cleaned and the bed made every day. On one occasion when I stored some smelly cheese in my room fridge, I returned to the cleaned room to find all the windows wide open. They must have imagined a resident with powerful BO.
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@fooddabbler Sadly, my maternal grandma is no longer around—she made delicious kimchee (as did my mom, who hasn’t made kimchee in years). I haven’t learned the art of kimchee-making, so I resort to whatever is on the shelf at HMart. I did buy this fancy brand recently at MOM’s Market in Burlington. Haven’t cracked it open yet (I like my kimchee VERY ripe—to the point of being fizzy).
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