Longan & My Health

Tropical Fruits


Longan (simplified Chinese: 龙眼) is very popular in china as both afresh or dried fruit and in oriental medicine

Longan (traditional Chinese: 龍眼, dragon’s eye) - chemo-preventive and have liver protective properties

Longan (traditional Chinese: 龍眼, dragon’s eye) - The Euphoria seed contains the highest levels of the three phenolics, and pulp contains the lowest (copyrighted to Ian Maguire and the University of Florida).

Longan literally "dragon eye" is a tropical tree native to southern China contains several vitamins and minerals - by (Longan Growing in the Florida Home Landscape - CREDITS: Ian Maguire UF/IFAS/TREC)

Longan also called guiyuan (桂圓) in Chinese contains large amounts of vitamins A and C - by courtesy of Tradewindsfruit.com

Longan also known as mata kucing (literally "cat's eye") in Malaysia has phenolic compounds in the fruit including gallic acid, corilagin, ellagic acid and antioxidant - by courtesy of Tradewindsfruit.com

The longan (simplified Chinese: 龙眼; traditional Chinese: 龍眼; pinyin:lóngyǎn; Cantonese long-ngan; literally "dragon eye"; Thai ลำไย) is a tropical tree native to southern China. It is also found in Indonesia and Southeast Asia.It is also called guiyuan (桂圓) in Chinese, lengkeng in Indonesia, mata kucing (literally "cat's eye") in Malaysia, nhãn in Vietnamese (The Species: Euphorialongana Lamk. named "long nhãn" in Vietnamese- literally "dragon's eyes"), Mora in Sinhalese (Sri Lanka) and also "longan" in Tagalog.

Benefits of Longan:

Longan fruit contains several vitamins and minerals,

including iron,

magnesium,

phosphorus

potassium,

large amounts of vitamins A and C

Euphoria fruit also has phenolic compounds in the fruit, such as

gallic acid,

corilagin, and

ellagic acid,

antioxidant,

chemo-preventive,

liver protective properties.

The Euphoria seed contains the highest levels of the three phenolics, and pulp contains the lowest.

Some facts of Longan

Also known as the dragon’s eye, the longon is very popular in china as both afresh or dried fruit and in oriental medicine. Native to southern china, the fruit is growing in popularity in the west with orchards being developed in Hawaii and Florida. There are also many trees found in India.

The Longan was introduced into Florida in 1903 but never became popular until the kohala variety was introduced from Hawaii in 1954. The recent named Egami variety is one of the more popular types of longon in Hawaii. Full grown trees given may yield 400 to 500 lbs of fruit in good years.

The longan tree is a symmetrical, evergreen tree with dense dark green foliage. Depending upon climate and soil type the tree may grow over 100 ft (31 m) tall. However, in south Florida, trees typically grow to 30-40 ft (9.1-12.2 m) in height and width. The crown tends to be round or oblong and the bark is corky.

Full grown trees given may yield 400 to 500 lbs of fruit in good years - (Longan Growing in the Florida Home Landscape - CREDITS: Ian Maguire UF/IFAS/TREC)

Longan was introduced into Florida in 1903. There are also many trees found in India. - (Longan Growing in the Florida Home Landscape - CREDITS: Ian Maguire UF/IFAS/TREC)

Longans tree pruning - (Longan Growing in the Florida Home Landscape - CREDITS: Ian Maguire UF/IFAS/TREC)

Longans tree pruning - (Longan Growing in the Florida Home Landscape - CREDITS: Ian Maguire UF/IFAS/TREC)


Longan fruit prunned - (Longan Growing in the Florida Home Landscape - CREDITS: Ian Maguire UF/IFAS/TREC)


Longan's flower - (Longan Growing in the Florida Home Landscape - CREDITS: Ian Maguire UF/IFAS/TREC)

Longans are much eaten fresh, out-of-hand, but some have maintained that the fruit is improved by cooking. In China, the majority are canned in sirup or dried.

Nutritional information

Food Value Per 100 g of Edible Portion
	Fresh	Dried
Calories	61	286
Moisture	82.4 g	17.6 g
Protein	1.0 g	4.9 g
Fat	0.1 g	0.4 g
Carbohydrates	15.8 g	74.0 g
Fiber	0.4 g	2.0 g
Ash	0.7 g	3.1 g
Calcium	10 mg	45 mg
Phosphorus	42 mg	196 mg
Iron	1.2 mg	5.4 mg
Thiamine		0.04 mg
Ascorbic Acid	6 mg (possibly)	28 mg

Adapted from:
http://sggsgptp14ws023.code1.emi.philips.com/media/WAVE/Health_Campaign-Fruit-Week4.pdf
- By Courtesy of PHILIPS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longan
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/MG049 (Longan Growing in the Florida Home Landscape - CREDITS: Ian Maguire UF/IFAS/TREC)