Longan Trivia | 25 facts about the exotic fruit

One exotic fruit, that can be found mostly in East Asia is the longan. Longan is known from Ancient times, as it was used in traditional medicine back in time

Let’s find out more about it!

1. Dimocarpus longan is commonly known as the longan
2. It’s a tropical tree species that produces edible fruit.
3. It is one of the better-known tropical members of the soapberry family Sapindaceae, to which the lychee and rambutan also belong.
4. The fruit of the longan is similar to that of the lychee.
5. It is less aromatic in taste though.
6. It is native to tropical Asia and China.
7. The longan is so named because it resembles an eyeball when its fruit is shelled (the black seed shows through the translucent flesh like a pupil/iris).
8. The word longan originates from Cantonese lùhng-ngáahn, literally ‘dragon eye’.
9. The seed is small, round and hard, and of an enamel-like, lacquered black.
10. The fully ripened, freshly harvested fruit has a bark-like shell, thin, and firm, making the fruit easy to peel by squeezing the pulp out as if one were “cracking” a sunflower seed.
11. When the shell has more moisture content and is more tender, the fruit becomes less convenient to shell.
12. The tenderness of the shell varies due to either premature harvest, variety, weather conditions, or transport/storage conditions.
13. The longan is believed to originate from the mountain range between Myanmar and southern China.
14. Other reported origins include India, Sri Lanka, upper Myanmar, north Thailand, Kampuchea (more commonly known as Cambodia), north Vietnam and New Guinea.
15. Its earliest record of existence draws back to the Han Dynasty in 200 BC.
16. The emperor had demanded lychee and longan trees to be planted in his palace gardens in Shaanxi, but the plants failed.
17. Four hundred years later, longan trees flourished in other parts of China like Fujian and Guangdong, where longan production soon became an industry.
18. Later on, due to immigration and the growing demand for nostalgic foods, the longan tree was officially introduced to Australia in the mid-1800s, Thailand in the late-1800s, and Hawaii and Florida in the 1900s. The warm, sandy-soiled conditions allowed for the easy growth of longan trees. This jump-started the longan industry in these locations.
19. Despite its long success in China, the longan is considered to be a relatively new fruit to the world. It has only been acknowledged outside of China in the last 250 years.
20. The first European acknowledgement of the fruit was recorded by Joao de Loureiro, a Jesuit botanist, in 1790.
21. The first entry resides in his collection of works, Flora Cochinchinensis.
22. Currently, longan crops are grown in southern China, Taiwan, northern Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, India, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Australia, the United States, and Mauritius.
23. It is also grown in Bangladesh.
24. Longan may be used in traditional Eastern folk medicine. Prior to the 1800s, longan was prevalent in Asia.
25. In ancient Vietnamese medicine, the “eye” of the longan seed was pressed against snakebites to absorb the venom. This was ineffective, but may still be used in the 21st century.