The Twirling Treat. Review on Tropicana Litchi Twirl

I had taken off from MS intentionally yet my return was inevitable. Whenever I buy or enjoy a good product who best to share it with but MS and the esteemed MSians.

It’s end of March – the beginning of summer in the Capital. Though the mornings are chilly and the nights are balmy, the day temperature rises up to 35 degrees. It’s the time when a one liter water bottle falls short of daily requirement. You need something to wet your throat and cool your interiors constantly.  As it is Doctor’s standard advice is to have seven to eight glasses of water in a day be it any season to keep your body adequately hydrated.

Usually I keep my fridge stacked with fruit juices and other non-aerated stuff in this season. I cannot withstand heat. My appetite goes down and the only thing that keeps me going is bottles, cans and tetra packs of fluids. For this time of the year, I generally depend upon Active’s Fruit Juices, Rajeev_Vermacially the Mixed Vegetable juice, however, I was plain unlucky this time when I went to Big Bazaar last to last Saturday. The juice racks only had brands which I don’t use – Real, Sach and Tropicana.

I would have come out empty-handed but something spurred me to pick up Tropicana’s Litchi Twirl – evident by the name – its Litchi Juice. Litchi or Lychee is one of my favourite fruits. I am selective about fruits and it is one of the few that I relish - bunches of those light, scaly skinned dollops of red kept in the fridge, chilled to the core! However, for quite some time I have been deprived of this delight. To be precise, it is since the time one of my friends told me how difficult it was to make out and segregate the insect which is found embedded in the fleshy part of the fruit being of the same translucent colour. Once or twice, she detected one and showed me too! Tobah! I was off the fruit.

But Litchi is not just a fruit. It is nostalgia which takes me way back to my childhood days – how we friends would gorge on the juicy fruit. The pleasure it would give at times just to nibble at it bit by bit. It was like a ritual which would end with licking and twirling the tasteless seed inside the mouth and then taking it out and looking at it hard while jestfully spelling out to each other the obnoxious thing that it resembled with equally playful “ughs” and “yucks” yet still repeating the same ritual all over again the very next moment!!

Though I parted ways with the fruit yet a cart full of the same during its season would always attract my attention and fill me up with such sadness which is quite indescribable in words. It is needless again to say that it is the word Litchi written on the cover that prompted me to bring the tetra pack back home and give it a try. Surprisingly, I had never tasted Litchi juice before howsoever favourite the fruit may be and howsoever I might have yearned for it. Don’t ask me why I don’t have an answer. Perhaps things happen when they have to happen. Too much of philosophy for a fruit juice but it’s true!!

So the first thing I do after coming back home is to shove the pack inside the fridge till it’s cool right for sipping. As I poured the liquid in the glass the very colour of the drink stole my heart - almost as colourless as water with the tinge of the lightest version of coral pink. Somebody had told me that it resembled the colour of champagne. Having not had the opportunity to taste the same I cannot vouchsafe for that. But yes, the colour is soothing to the eye and so is the taste absolutely soul stirring – a mellow, silky, sweet texture that satiates and at the same time makes you want some more.

As I said before I am particular about brand for the only reason that most of the canned/packed fruit juices have a medicinal taste which I hate. Perhaps it is due to the preservatives that they use. But nevertheless it robs the naturalness of the taste. However, Tropicana did not have that clinical flavour and Litchi Twirl tasted just like Litchi juices should taste. Ask a dietician and he/she will always advise you to have actual fruit instead of ready-made fruit juices or at best home-made juice so that you are sure of its authenticity. True enough, fruits are several times better than processed juices as in the latter you miss out on the roughage so essential for the digestive system. Also, the caloric content of canned juices is high.

Being a water person I am given to making juices at home. At the same time, reaching home huffing and puffing from office, I would also love to head for the fridge straight and pick up a pack of Tropicana Litchi Twirl to give instant relief to my parched soul!!

Manufactured by Schreiber Dynamics Dairies Limited and Marketed by Pepsico India Holdings Pvt. Ltd. Tropicana is sold in six layer tetra pack for added protection. The cover doles out a useful piece of information too about how Litchi came to be cultivated first in China around 1700 BC and is an excellent source of Vitamin C with 60% RDA per serve. I am sure that they must have also taken care of the harmful insects innocuously hiding inside before squeezing the juices out of the fruits. That’s a nasty thought!

Nevertheless, the swirl, the twirl and the whirl of the liquid on the taste buds is smooth and addictive. And as you finish one your hand invariably extends for a refill. At Big Bazaar a pair of Tropicana packs is available for Rs. 140/- which is quite reasonable than most other brands. Last time I got a Mixed Fruit Juice along with Litchi Twirl which was also good. This time I have got Guava Juice which I haven’t opened so far. And if I am as satisfied and charmed by the latter another review may be in the offing.

Before signing off, I am tempted to enlighten readers with a few nuggets of gyan siphoned out of wiki. Litchi or Litchi Chinensis is the sole surviving member of the soapberry family. Its fragrance is lost in the process of canning and therefore is preferred to be eaten as a fruit. Muzzafarpur in Bihar accounts for 75% of the total production of Litchi in India. It is baschandru021y a Southeast Asian fruit introduced to the West in 1782. It was first described and named by the French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat.

Its 02.40 am exactly into the night. As I tap on the keyboard I have the pack of Tropicana Litchi Twirl sitting pretty on the desk and swaying lightly in the cool breeze of the fan. I have already finished two half glasses and contemplating to have a third one before retiring to bed.

So till then Cheers!!!

This post is dedicated to @javeedahmedm who mailed a soft reminder to me saying “no more blogs or reviews?” So this is just to prove that I am not entirely busy with Giggles Dayan as he puts it….LOL!!!