The only fruit that can rival lychee: sweet, nutritious, and available only in summer

Introduction

Green plants and potted plants are essential decorations for home life. Keeping some flowers and plants at home has many benefits: it beautifies the room and pleases the mood. "Flower Sound Potted Plant Diary, Issue 1204" introduces you to a fruit that has always been compared with lychee.

Today's Featured Plant

If you say lychee is the most anticipated fruit of summer, probably no one would disagree. Every summer, lychee is always the most sought-after fruit. Despite its high price, buyers keep coming in an endless stream, and its popularity even overshadows watermelon, the mother of fruits and the heat-relieving miracle. Unfortunately, lychee is only on the market for about one month. But in the Lingnan region, there is a fruit often mentioned alongside lychee: longan.

Longan

People in northern regions may be relatively unfamiliar with longan, but when you hear its other name, "guiyuan," you will not find it unfamiliar. Longan is fresh guiyuan, and guiyuan is dried longan. Guangxi and Guangdong in Lingnan, and Fujian in the southeast, are China's longan production areas. It is one of the famous fruit trees of southern and southeastern China, sharing the title of "fine fruit of Lingnan" with lychee, and it is the most anticipated fruit after the lychee season ends each year.

Only available in summer

Children who grow up in the Lingnan region of the south are fortunate. Every summer, there is always an endless supply of fruit. Bananas and balsam pear (guava) need not even be mentioned; summer lychee and longan are always the main event and the most worth looking forward to. Each has its own strengths. Lychee is tender and juicy, sweet and fragrant, while longan has a milder fragrance and is richer in nutrients, containing abundant glucose, sucrose, protein, iron, and more. It can increase caloric intake and supplement nutrition, with many benefits.

Guiyuan

By comparison, longan is easier to store than lychee. After long-distance transportation, its flavor is not damaged and it remains delicious, whereas lychee changes flavor 48 hours after being picked. After the longan harvest at home, a batch is kept every year and sun-dried to make dried longan, which is the so-called "guiyuan." After drying, longan can be stored for more than half a year, ensuring there is something to eat all year round. The taste remains sweet and refreshing, and it can be eaten directly or used in soup.

Shixia longan

There are not many varieties of longan, unlike lychee, which has many different varieties. Overall, the two most delicious longans are Shixia longan and Chuliang longan, produced in the Guangdong-Guangxi region. Both varieties have small seeds, thick flesh, and high sugar content. Here is a method to tell whether longan is delicious: peel off the shell. If the flesh inside is crystal clear, the seed cannot be seen, and no moisture is visible on the surface, it is basically one of these two varieties, and you have made the right choice.