Imperfect lychees go from shed floor to liquor shelf as growers diversify

Repeatedly seeing edible lychees discarded for their cosmetic imperfections has led central Queensland grower Krystal Caton on a mission to use the third-grade fruit.

"We were seeing waste from our lychees. Whilst it's only a small percentage, those lychees have already been harvested from the trees, so the expenses have already been spent," she said.

Ms Caton and her husband Paul are first-generation farmers with a 9,000-tree lychee orchard at South Yaamba, 30 minutes outside Rockhampton.

They have recently collaborated with a Yeppoon distillery to craft lychee-infused vodka and liqueur.

The sweet fruit originated in southern China more than 2,000 years ago.

At the central Queensland farm, it is harvested over December and January and graded by quality, with the top produce sent to international and domestic markets.

The third-grade fruit was typically discarded, given to the cattle for feed or sent home with workers.

"Because they just [have] cosmetic damage on the outside of the fruit … inside of the fruit is perfectly fine," Ms Caton said.

"We saw an opportunity and thought why not try developing that into another product?"

The shelf product also creates a way lychees can be enjoyed all year round.

"On top of the value add, because we're just a short season, it's also creating consumer continuity of awareness throughout the year … [and not having to] wait till next Christmas," Mr Caton said.

Exploring post-harvest opportunities for lychees has been a passion for Ms Caton and was the focus of her report as a 2025 Nuffield Scholar.

The coveted agriculture industry scholarship allowed her to travel overseas, study international lychee production and attend conferences.

Her research and findings will be presented later this year, with a focus on how family farms can value-add.

"Essentially utilising the assets that we already have here and seeing where else the value is being lost, and can we capture some of that in order to stay resilient, be more profitable, and grow our business," she said.

Lychees, zucchini and finger limes

The lychee vodka and liqueur have been crafted at a Yeppoon distillery.

For the first batch, the Catons sent 80 kilograms of last season's leftover fruit that was frozen.

"Lychees is such an amazing fruit to work with, so quintessential Queensland,"

Reef Distillers co-owner Laureth Rumble said.

Each bottle contains 14 lychees.

Alongside the lychee alcohol, Reef Distillers also works with other growers to value-add their product, including zucchini flowers from Ayr and finger limes from the Capricorn Coast.

"One of the things that really was important for our vision was to take ingredients that are on this Great Barrier Reef coastline and bring that into our spirits, collaborating with local farmers and growers," Ms Rumble said.

The fruit is mixed with grain-based ethanol in the 500-litre still, affectionately named "Mr Bean".

"The vapours go through it and at the end, we infuse with the lychees, kind of like a tea bag," Ms Rumble explained.

The process to develop a new product takes about three to four months.

Transforming a lower-grade fruit into a high-value product was a win-win for growers, CQUni professor of regional economic development John Rolfe said. 

The horticulture industry is usually "saturated" during the season when the crops are harvested and everyone is selling at the same time.

"Transforming some of your product into value-added, it spreads your income stream, but it also reduces your risk on that supply at a particular week in the year, and the risk of price drop at that time," Professor Rolfe said.

Barriers to alcohol production in Australia

Alcohol production is not as common in Australia as elsewhere in the world, and in Queensland only a handful of lychee growers have turned their hand to it.

Professor Rolfe said while it was common in Europe to make schnapps out of apple and pear, in Australia it was much more industrialised and difficult to get liquor licenses.

"There's been some backyard hobbyists who make alcohol for their own use, or spirits for their own use, but commercially, I think it's fairly rare," he said.

"And that's in some ways to the grower's advantage, because then there's a real niche there that can be built."

Professor Rolfe said the weather and infrastructure needed were some of the challenges.

"We have higher temperatures in Australia, so it's not as easy as in the cold countries to get the fermentation correct," he said.

"Scale is another issue here, generally producers have to produce, have large-scale operations, they've got to produce a lot of fruit to be viable."

But done well, it could bring wide-scale recognition for a region, Professor Rolfe explained.

He said consumers in metropolitan markets were often unaware of the product's origin.

"Whereas what is great in a regional setting is where we have producers who sell to local restaurants, local markets, local suppliers … so that the region becomes better known for its quality of produce," he said.

"If you have a number of producers that do that, you then end up with more of a food tourism culture in the region."