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
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:
Some facts of Longan
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.
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 |
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)