Longan and dragon eye fruits

មៀន reads as [Mean]: Longan, (Dimocarpus longan) is a tropical fruit tree of the soapberry family (Sapindaceae) which is native to Asia. Fruits to this family are lychee, rambutan, guarana, ackee, korlan, genip, and pitomba. Local people grow them a lot in Cambodia. The harvesting season is mostly from April to June. They have great value in religion and belief as people often use them to offer to Buddha or as offering. You will see people sell the fruit along the street more on Buddhist Holy day. Cambodian word for Rich sounds Mean as well so the fruit can represent them as wealth when offering. តាង៉ែន reads as [Tagnen] (dragon eye fruit) is very similar in taste and appearance to longan fruit but with more flesh and less aroma. The Dragon eye fruit has very small seed, unlike longan that has big seed. The drangon eye fruits are known to only been grown only in Pailin region. They both has white-flesh. However, longon has great aroma and juicy flesh which is mildly sweet and musky flavor. Both fruits are commonly sold fresh, dried, or canned in syrup.

Price: 3-5$/kilo

Longan is known to Cambodians as one of the top 3 energized fruits, among coconut and mango. 

• The famous region for growing Longan is Koh Krabey, near Phnom Penh
• The famous for growing Dragon eye fruit is Pailin, near Thai border.

Fruit nutrition

Nutritional value of 100 g of longan fruit contains:

 

Nutrition value	Nutrition value in #Gram
Water	82.75 g
Energy	60 kcal
Protein	1.31 g
Fat	0.1g
Carbohydrate	15.14 g
Fibre	1.1 g
Calcium	1 mg
Iron	0.13 mg
Magnesium	10 mg
Phosphorus	21 mg
Potassium	266 mg
Zinc	0.05 mg
Copper	0.169 mg
Manganese	0.052 mg
Vitamin C	84 mg
Thiamine	0.031 mg
Riboflavinn	0.14 mg
Niacin	0.3 mg

 

Benefits of the fruit

It has greater benefits to one's health, such as:

• A general tonic to increase energy and boost the immune system.
• Reduce or cure depression & relieve anxiety
• Decrease fatigue &improves digestion
• Boost and improve memory function
• Protects against chronic diseases
• Lowers inflammation
• May treat insomnia & prevent anaemia
• May aid weight loss
• Regulates blood pressure
• May manage cancer
• Enhances skin health
• Boosts libido
• Use as anti-venom for snake bites

How to eat the fruit

Flesh from the fruit can be used in various ways:

• Eat fresh flesh of the fruit by peeling of the skin
• Use fresh or canned pulp or flesh of longan fruit in sorbets or as juices and fruit smoothies, make pudding, jams and jellies.
• Add fresh longan fruit to fruit salads.
• Add fresh or canned longan fruit to herbal teas and cocktails.
• Use longan fruit in soups, stews & marinades.

Longan at Koh Krobey - big and tasty one.

A colleage bought these for Buddhist Holy Day today and share among us at the office. The fruit and its flesh can be seen here.