Yang Guifei's Lychee Jelly

Yang Guifei, one of the Four Beauties of China and Emperor Xuanzong's favourite concubine was said to love lychees so much that during the lychee season, the Emperor would order his men to ride their horses from Guangzhou where lychees are grown to Xian to transport the fruit to his beloved.

It is 1,674 km between Guangzhou and Xian, or 19 hour by car. I assume it would take much longer by horse on dirt tracks. Lychees discolour in the day it is plucked off the tree, loses its fragrance on the second day and spoils on the third. It wouldn't be smart to serve the Emperor's favourite concubine spoiled lychees, would it?

Riders and horses purportedly gave so much of themselves in the important task that they often die of exhaustion at the end of the their leg of the trip.

Today with the joys of preservatives and modern chemicals, I get my peeled and deseeded lychees in syrup from Southern China in a can. While one of these days I would like to try lychees freshly plucked off a tree, I will have to be satisfied with lychees in a can for now.

I made these lychee jelly after work yesterday as a surprise for Gaz. And what a nice surprise it was for a hot 42 deg day. I should ask Gaz if he feels the lurrve showing through these jellies and if he feels favoured, like Yang Guifei?