Where Are Loquats Grown? A Detailed Guide to the Main Producing Regions Across the Country

Loquats are produced in Gansu, Shaanxi, Henan, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, and Taiwan, China. They are widely cultivated in various places, and wild ones are found in Sichuan and Hubei. They are also cultivated in Japan, India, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, and Indonesia.

Ripe loquats taste sweet and are quite nutritious, containing various fruit sugars, glucose, potassium, phosphorus, iron, calcium, and vitamins A, B, C, and others. Among all fruits, their carotene content ranks third. Traditional Chinese medicine holds that the loquat fruit has the effects of moistening the lungs, relieving coughs, and quenching thirst. Loquats should be peeled when eaten.

Loquat leaves are also a kind of traditional Chinese medicine. Large loquat leaves are dried and used as medicine, with the functions of clearing heat from the lungs and stomach and directing qi downward to resolve phlegm. They are often made with other medicinal materials into “Chuanbei Loquat Paste”. However, like other related plants, the seeds and new leaves of the loquat are slightly toxic, and eating them raw releases trace amounts of cyanide, but because they taste bitter, people generally do not eat enough to cause harm.