JANVI TOURS

The longan (dragon eye in Chinese) fruit tree is found in China. Districts of Guangzhou such as Baiyun District and Haizhu District, and cities like Zengcheng, Panyu and Huadu all are rich in longan. The Dimocarpus longan tree can grow up to 6 to 7 meters in height. The size of the longan is like that of a grape, the black seed shows through the translucent flesh like a pupil/iris, only more round with a big, black, round, ebony seed, which the Chinese described as dragon's eye. Longan fruit is high in vitamin C, with 80 percent of your daily needs in a half cup.

Dried longan, called guìyuán (桂圆) in Chinese, are often used in Chinese cuisine and Chinese sweet dessert soups. For drying, the fruits are first heated to shrink the flesh and facilitate peeling of the rind. Then the seeds are removed and the flesh dried over a slow fire. In contrast with the fresh fruit, which is juicy and white, the flesh of dried longans is dark brown to almost black.

Longans and lychees bear fruit at around the same time of the year, a little bit later after lychees, available from july to aug.