Longan, also called “dragon’s eye” in Chinese (due to the white eye-shaped mark on the pit which looks like a pupil in a big eye) is soft like the lychee fruit but smaller in size. This fruit is brown in color and belongs to the same family as lychee fruit (as a small brother of the lychees). Longan has its scientific term as Dimocarpus longan, first coming from China and later spreading all around the world. Nowadays, it is widely cultivated in India, Thailand, and in many other nations of Asia. Longans are abundantly available in hot summer season, and people can eat them raw or dry them to consume or add to dishes (commonly desserts).

Longan has a fragile and brown skin. It has translucent and sensitive white flesh which has a musky flavor – like grapes, encasing a small black seed.

I. Types Of Longan

There are 4 common types of Longan that are most widely known and used all over the world:

1. Kohala Marcotted

Strongly associated with lychee, Kohala Marcotted longan is greatly regarded in Southeast Asia. It has big size compared to other types of longans, and comes with dark tan color. It has a fragrant and sweet taste.

2. Haew

Haew is actually a late-maturing cultivar. This high-quality type of longan has moderate to large size, and its seed is somewhat tiny. Haew longan comes with golden brown color.

3. Kohala Seedling

This is a close relative of the lychees yet much bigger in size, much colder resistant, and more robust. Its taste is delightfully sweet. It comes with reddish rust to darkish gray colors. This type of longan is extremely nice in fragrance and flavor.

4. Chompoo Longan

Chompoo longan is really tiny in dimensions and comes with yellow tan color. It is just a type of longan coming from Thailand with huge, top quality. This fruit has a faint pink dash in the flesh. The flavor of chompoo longan is fairly sweet.

II. How To Store Longans And How To Use Them In Life

Before learning about the best nutritional and health benefits of longan, there is still an important thing that people need to learn carefully as it affects directly to the quality and the taste of this fruit – the storage tips and proper ways to use.

1. Storage

Storing is always a headache problem that many people concern about. Knowing how to store fruits and veggies properly will allow us to use them with better quality and for longer time period. Longan is not an exception here. It is very important for us to know how to store longans properly to save its quality for long.

To store longans, people will need to use a paper towel to wrap the fruits and soak it up for excess dampness, place the fruits into a punctured plastic bag, and put them in the fridge to store. You can keep longans in the fridge well within two to three weeks, but they might get their flavor and fragrance reduced a little bit as time passes. To maintain the best taste of longans, you should consume these fruits as quickly as possible. You can also freeze longans within their covering.

2. Longan Uses And Recipe Ideas:

• Cut longans can be served well along with coconut ice cream and cantaloupe or any other melon added.
• Over slow, open fire, dry longans and also add these smoky fruits to any favorite soup
• Try making vodka jello shots and add some pieces of fresh longans to increase the flavors
• You can use longans to make jello dishes because their texture will match those of jello’s texture.
• Slice longans as an additional for an exotic salad or include them along with carambola, pineapple, and serve with a dressing made from soy.
• The fairly sweet rejuvenating flavor of longans may make them a great choice for sorbets.
• Try stewing longans in sugar and also syrup: this will prolong your longans’ storage time.
• In China, thanks a lot to its amazingly high saponin content, the seeds of longans can be utilized just like soapnuts as a shampoo.

III. Health And Nutritional Benefits Of Longan

This is, at last, the most important part of the article which readers may want to know most – a short yet informative list of the best nutritional and health benefits of longan to human health. As mentioned above, longan brings about several health and nutritional values to our life every day; and here are the best of them:

1. Benefits Of Longan – Prevent Eye Conditions

Another one out on the list of the most amazing health and nutritional benefits of longan I would like to introduce in the article today is that it can help to prevent eye conditions and improve eye health as well as eyesight effectively!

In fact, longans feature a good impact on eyesight and can be used effectively to reduce the cataract development, as well as reducing the risks of night blindness and age-related macular degeneration.

Riboflavin is a crucial and essential vitamin that is part of the B-complex vitamin. Women need 1.1 milligrams of riboflavin each day while men need 1.3 milligrams of this vitamin. According to a study published in 2005 known as “Archives of Ophthalmology”, a deficiency of riboflavin could increase risks of eye disorders, especially cataracts. Raw longan has 0.14 milligram of riboflavin in every 3.5 – ounce serving while dried longan has half a milligram per serving. Consuming 3.5 ounces of dried longans, you will get 38% of your daily riboflavin need if you are a man and 45% of the RDA if you are a woman.

Improving eyesight and eye health is an amazing power of those tiny longans, try it out to see!

Read More: Top 19 Good Fruits For Diabetics And High Blood Pressure

2. Benefits Of Longan – Fill Up On Iron

Vegans and strict vegans are more prone to a lack of iron than people who consume meat. The reason is simply because the iron contents of plant foods cannot be absorbed as easily as those in animal-based food items. Women during pregnancy, teenage girls, and endurance athletes might also require higher levels of iron than other subjects. Dried longans can help a lot in increasing your iron consumption, with 5 milligrams of this nutrient contained in each 3.5-ounce serving, equivalent to nearly 28% of a woman’s daily need and about 62% of a man’s requirement.

Learn also: 19 Health And Beauty Benefits Of Banana Consumption 

3. Benefits Of Longan – Strengthen Your Bones

This is also one of the best health and nutritional benefits of longan that people should know and make use for good!

A research published in “Maturitas” in 2024 showed that postmenopausal women, who had low mineral levels, including copper, were greatly more prone to osteoporosis as they age. An adult needs to take about 900 micrograms of copper per day, and 3.5 ounces of fresh longan provides more than 19% of the daily requirement. Dried longan is an even greater source. Dried longan provides 807 micrograms of copper per 3.5-ounce serving, nearly 90% of the RDA.

4. Benefits Of Longan – Boost Your Vitamin C

People following a diet with a high proportion of vitamin C may have lower risks of developing certain types of cancer, age-related macular degeneration, heart disease, and high blood pressure. Raw longans are a great source of vitamin C as it contains 84 milligrams of this vitamin per 3.5 ounces serving. This amount offers 93% of recommended daily vitamin C consumption for a man, which is 90 milligrams, and more than 100% of the daily requirement for a woman (75 milligrams).

Read More: 14 Best Coconut Oil Beauty Recipes

5. Benefits Of Longan – Longan Nurtures The Heart

This is another one out on the list of nutritional and health benefits of longan that we would like to introduce in this entire article and want you as well as our other dear readers to learn carefully for good!

According to the classic Chinese herbal theory, Longan can feed the heart immediately, boosting heart health effectively. Longan is actually a wonder for our heart’s health. By reducing exhaustion and tension, these tiny fruits offer alleviation in heart disease and also take an important role in maintaining the blood pressure at healthy levels.

Learn More: 11 Healthy Fruit Smoothie Recipes With Yogurt For Summer

6. Benefits Of Longan – Gum And Teeth Health Support

Gums and teeth, as bones, are very important parts in our body system. Fortunately, the abundant vitamin contents of longans can help to support in keeping gums and teeth strong and healthy so that you just need to consume longans every day and enjoy their wonderful taste!

Read More: Health Benefits Of Oranges In The Body That Amaze You 

7. Benefits Of Longan – Fight Heavy Perspiring

Fresh longan’s seeds should be used as well as it can support the fight against heavy perspiring while the pulverized kernel may contain Saponins, fats, and tannin that offer a styptic – or maybe a substance that can pull tissue jointly, thus restricting the tissue, as well as preventing blood along with other secretions.

8. Benefits Of Longan – Fight Insomnia And Anemia

This is also among the best nutritional and health benefits of longan that everyone should not skip!

Longan is a perfect natural treatment that can help people to fight against and beat off insomnia. It can also help to reduce anxiousness and improve the concentration as it consists of fitokimianya – the substance that can help to unwind the nerves and provides a relaxing sense.

Scientists prove that longans are an excellent source of iron – an essential nutrient for the form of red blood cells, thereby contributing to lowering the risks of anemia.

Longan contains high levels of minerals, and it is considered as an anti-depressant as it provides a calming impact on the central nervous system. Longan can help to enhance human’s nerve function, lower exhaustion, and reduce irritability.

Read More: 23 Health & Nutritional Benefits Of Strawberry 

9. Benefits Of Longan – Aid Weight Loss

Are you among people trying to weight loss naturally? If the answer is “yes”, then longans are one of the best assistants for you right now!

Longan is low in calories and fats so that it should be considered and used as a healthy addition to the daily diets of people who are trying to lose weight. Longan consists of sucrose (complex carbohydrates) as well as glucose which can help to increase the energy levels, decrease food cravings, and enhance stamina as well.

10. Benefits Of Longan – Reduce The Risks Of Cancers

Longans are high in polyphenols so that it can help to eliminate harmful free-radicals which can pose threads to your cells, resulting in cancers along with injuries to arteries, and the increased risks for strokes and cardiac arrest. Many scientists and experts have been studying with regards to the security and usefulness of the anti-oxidant content inside longans.

11. Benefits Of Longan – Fight Flus, Colds, And Boost The Injury Recovery

With an excellent content of vitamin C, longans are useful in safeguarding the body from flu and colds, and can help to enhance the defense mechanisms as well. Vitamin C can support the whole body’s health in absorbing iron – the important factor that can help to sustain healthy skin and also allow our body to heal injuries fast. Vitamin C acts very well to enhance the wound healing process and can also increase the durability since it can battle the free radicals harming the cells.

12. Benefits Of Longan – Prevent Stomach Ache

Another one out of the best benefits of longan that people need to know is that it can help to prevent stomach ache naturally at home.

The fresh, fairly sweet, and scrumptious longans bring about a lot more health supports compared to what we already know. One of many lesser-known benefits of longans is that these fruits can help to prevent every kind of stomachaches and bacterial infections while also enhancing our body’s defense mechanisms.

13. Benefits Of Longan – An Amazing Sex Tonic And Beauty Herb

Fresh longans aid well in improving skin appearance and maintaining skin health. They are considered as a useful assistance that can help to fight against and reduce aging impacts and thus are shown to boost the overall health of our skin. It can also improve the skin complexion, reduce skin cracking, skin ripping, as well as lower the risks of some certain skin related issues.

Longan also offers sweetness shine to the skin. It is actually considered among the Chinese people that Longans does not only work perfectly for skin health, but also acts as a wonderful sex tonic. Thanks to this amazing benefit, Longans are recognized as a necessity for females who need to be both sensuous and beautiful equally. In fact, longans feature a 2000 year reputation as a special sex tonic.

14. Benefits Of Longan – Promote Calmness

Longans can help to encourage stillness, especially when coupled with Shen tonics, such as Reishi. It has been proven to support a rejuvenating, deep sleep. If you are among people who are struggling with sleeplessness, you can enjoy utilizing a traditional tonic recipe, making from the mix of longan and ginseng which is renowned for supporting a good night’s sleep. This is the most amazing health and nutritional benefits of longan that you should keep in mind if you are a big longan lover!

15. Benefits Of Longan – A Perfect Qi Tonic For Boost Daily Energy

If you consume longans on a daily or regular basis, then these tiny fruits would give you much more than a temporary source of energy. They are really outstanding tiny Qi tonics that can raise your long-term energy for activities throughout the day. As longans are both a Qi tonic and a blood tonic, people can use them to reduce anxiousness, lapse of memory, and also sleeplessness, which are the most serious results of Qi and blood insufficiency, according to the Chinese beliefs.

16. Benefits Of Longan – A Great Blood Tonic

This is the last but also among the best health and nutritional benefits of longan that we would like to introduce in the entire article today and people should learn and make use of for good!

Longans are probably the best blood medicine of Chinese tonic herbalism. It is often coupled with several other blood medications, such as Peony and Dang Gui, to create blood building formulations and teas. Longans have excellent amounts of iron – about 15 times those of spinach and 20 times those of grapes.

After introducing you and other readers of VKool.com in the entire list today, what we would like to encourage all of you to do is to spend time reading another article – the Top 10 Health Benefits Of Okra article. This is actually a very interesting list that reveals some of the best health and nutritional values that okra brings about. As all of us know, okra is a commonly used as a food material to be added to many different types of dishes, and it is especially good for people who are on a strict weight loss diet and vegetarians. Okra is very easy to find in almost every country and region in the world. People just need to spend a small expense to purchase and consume this veggie. It brings to human health several magical powers that can help to improve health and deal with some certain conditions as well. Okra contains a lot of essential minerals and vitamins that our body extremely needs for good functioning. All of these benefits have already been proven by several studies and researches so that readers of VKool should not concern about it. In brief, all readers of VKool.com should spend time reading this suggested article and start making use of okra right from today for good!

This is the list of 9 health and nutritional benefits of longan that people who love this vegetable and really want to use it to improve health should read carefully and take some notes. In fact, longan is not simply a tasty, juicy, and sweet fruit but it can be added to several dishes, such as ice-creams, sweet porridges, smoothies, candy…, but also a natural medicine that can help to beat off many diseases from mild to moderation levels. Moreover, longan is not difficult to find and also not too expensive to buy from any fruit store and supermarkets. Thus, people can try making several delicious dishes with this fruit by combining it with some simple ingredients. Longan has been proven good for health and contains many nutritional values, so my dear readers should try making use of this sweet fruit regularly (excepting those with allergies or certain conditions as cautioned).

After reading the entire list of the best nutritional and health benefits of longan and know how to store, process, and make use of this fruit, if you like the information we provide, let us know as a great encouragement. If you want to ask something or have something unclear about the content of this article, feel free to leave them in the section below. As an author of VKool, I will try my best to give you the most satisfying answers. In addition, if you know anyone else who needs the help of longan as well, then do not hesitate to share this list widely and make use together with people you know.

Related articles about the health and nutritional values of other food materials, how they can help people to deal with health problems, and how to make use of them at home:

Top 12 Health Benefits Of Peaches

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