| Longan
LR/nt
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 Longan fruit | ||||||||||||||
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| Dimocarpus longan Lour. | ||||||||||||||
The Longan (Template:Zh-stp; Cantonese long-ngan; literally "dragon eye"; Thai ลำไย) is a tropical tree native to southern China. The tree is very sensitive to frost. It is also found in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. It is also called guiyuan (桂圆) in Chinese, lengkeng in Indonesia, mata kucing in Malaysia, and quả nhãn in Vietnamese.
Longan Tree & Fruit
The tree is very sensitive to frost. Longan trees require sandy soil and temperatures that do not typically go below 4.5 degrees Celsius (40 degrees Fahrenheit). Longans and lychees bear fruit at around the same time of the year
The longan ("dragon eyes") is so named because of the fruit's resemblance to an eyeball when it is shelled (the black seed shows through the translucent flesh like a pupil/iris). Dried longan (Template:Zh-cpl) are often used in Chinese cuisine, Chinese food therapy and herbal medicine and Chinese sweet dessert soups. In contrast with the fresh fruit, the flesh of dried longans is dark brown to almost black.
Cross-section Description
The fruit is edible, and is often used in East Asian soups, snacks, desserts, and sweet-and-sour foods. They are round with a thin, brown-coloured inedible shell. The flesh of the fruit, which surrounds a big, black seed, is translucent white, soft, and juicy.
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