When Do Longans Ripen? A Detailed Guide to Their Ripening Time
The longan is one of the famous fruit trees of southern and southeastern China. It is an evergreen tree of the genus Dimocarpus in the soapberry family (Sapindaceae), also known as guiyuan, yizhi, and sanchi nongwei, and is often mentioned alongside the lychee. Its main producing area is Guangdong, followed by Fujian, and it is also found growing wild or semi-wild in open forests in Yunnan and southern Guangxi. Let us take a look below at when longans ripen!
When do longans ripen?
Longans usually ripen from May to October, but the ripening period varies by region and cultivar. By region, Thai longans ripen in late May, Guangzhou longans ripen in mid-July, Guangxi longans ripen from early July to early August, and Fujian longans ripen from late July to late August. By cultivar, "Fuyan" ripens from late August to early September, "Dongbi" ripens in late August, "Wulongling" ripens in early September, "Songfengben" ripens from late September to early October, and "Lidongben" ripens in late October.
Where do longans come from?
The longan is a fruit unique to South China, mostly grown in the southern regions of China (the area of Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong, and Fujian). Together with the lychee, banana, and pineapple, it is known as one of the "Four Great Treasures of South China." In terms of nutritional value and taste, the longans of Putian, Fujian, are the best. Countries and regions around the world that cultivate longans also include Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Madagascar, Queensland in Australia, and the states of Hawaii and Florida in the United States.
How do you choose fresh longans?
1. Squeeze: a hard longan shell indicates it is unripe, while soft and springy is the sign of a ripe one; if it is soft but has no springiness, it is overripe.
2. Look: choose longans whose skin is spot-free, clean, and neat; generally speaking, those with a slightly lighter color are of better quality.
3. Roll: good-quality longans have high sugar content, and the shell, flesh, and pit stay connected, so they do not roll easily on a tabletop; poor-quality ones are the opposite.
4. Peel: when peeled, good-quality longans have thick, firm flesh of even shape; the flesh is soft and translucent or semi-translucent, with a sweet taste.
What cultivars of longan are there?
1. Shixia longan: the original stock of Shixia longan comes from Pingzhou, Nanhai, Guangdong. It is a famous fresh-eating cultivar with a long history of cultivation, widely spread to Guangdong, Guangxi, and other places. It has three strains: yellow-shell Shixia, green-shell Shixia, and gongfen-shell Shixia. It ripens in early to mid-August and is an early-maturing cultivar.
2. Caopuzhong longan: the fruit is round or slightly flattened-round, medium-sized. The skin is reddish-brown or yellow-gray-brown with tortoise-shell-like markings. The flesh is white-wax colored to pale yellow-wax white, semi-translucent, and separates from the pit fairly easily. The fruit ripens from late August to late September; it is a mid-to-late-maturing cultivar.
3. Chuliang longan: Chuliang longan is the only cultivar that can rival imported Thai longans and is superior in quality to Thai longans. It is an excellent cultivar for both fresh eating and processing; after processing, the guiyuan flesh is yellow and semi-translucent, thick, dry, and easy to store, and it can produce grade-one to premium-grade guiyuan flesh.
4. Dongbianyong longan: Dongbianyong longan is native to Wuchuan, Guangdong. Its fruits are large and yellow-brown, do not split, and weigh 12.5-15 g on average per fruit, with the heaviest reaching 20.85 g. The flesh is crisp and does not drip juice, is refreshingly sweet and often honey-like, and the tree bears early, is high-yielding and stable-yielding, with large fruits of excellent quality.
5. Gushan No. 2: Gushan No. 2 has strong tree vigor and a semicircular canopy. The fruit is round, with an average single-fruit weight of 9.4 g. The skin is yellow-brown, and the flesh is milky white, separates easily from the pit, is crisp and refreshing, with a clean sweet taste and top-grade quality. It ripens in early August and is an early-maturing, high-quality fresh-eating cultivar.