What are the effects of longan?

Longan

Longan is also known as longan and sub-lychee. It is a kind of fruit. There are more than 30 varieties such as tiger eye and Shixia longan. It is distributed in Fujian, Taiwan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and other places in China. Among them, Fujian's production accounts for 50% of the total national production. The fruit is harvested in autumn when it is ripe, peeled and used fresh, or the fruit is dried and the aril is peeled for later use.

Longan got its name because of its black and shiny seeds and white navel, which looks like the eyes of the legendary "dragon". Fresh longan is very tender, juicy and sweet, delicious and tasty, which is beyond the reach of other fruits. Fresh longan is dried into dried fruit and becomes longan in traditional Chinese medicine.

Other countries and regions in the world that cultivate longan include Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Madagascar, Queensland in Australia, Hawaii and Florida in the United States, etc.

Introduction to the efficacy of longan

In the Song Dynasty, longan was already widely grown in Quanzhou.

Su Song, a native of Tongan County, Quanzhou Prefecture, in the Northern Song Dynasty, wrote in his Illustrated Materia Medica (1061): “Longan grows in the mountains and valleys of the South China Sea, and can be found in all places where lychees are grown in Fujian, Guangdong, and Sichuan today.

In the Southern Song Dynasty, Wang Shipeng, the governor of Quanzhou, praised longan: "The light red color of the best quality sweeps the ground, and all the trees call it dragon. It is like Yizhi, which is not a medicine at all. It tastes better than lychee, which is really a slave."

Huang Zhongzhao's "Eight Fujian Chronicles" in the Ming Dynasty recorded: "Longan trees are similar to lychees, but with smaller leaves and yellow-brown skin. Longan trees ripen as soon as lychees are ripe, so southerners call them lychee slaves. They can be found in all counties of Quanzhou Prefecture, and are especially abundant in the prefecture (today's Licheng District and Fengze District). "

In the Ming Dynasty, He Qiaoyuan, a native of Quanzhou, wrote in the Book of Fujian that in the Quanzhou area, "the gardens have lychees and longans, which are roasted and dried and sold all over the country."

The history of grafting longan in Quanzhou is very long. Xu Bo's "Litchi Book" (1597) and Deng Daoxie's "Litchi Book" (1628) in the Ming Dynasty both recorded the use of grafting to propagate longan. Zhou Lianggong's "Min Xiaoji" (1666-1668) and Guo Baicang's "Minchan Luyi" in the early Qing Dynasty both recorded the use of the inlay method to replace seeds, which is still used today. The old method used hanging bowls and filling soil. There are many varieties of Quanzhou longan with different flavors. Famous varieties include Puming'an version, Honghaier version and more than 50 other varieties. The most praised is the "Dongbi" longan, which won the gold medal at the China Agricultural Expo in 1993.

The "Dongbi" longan originated from a corner of the former Dongbi Temple next to the East Pagoda in Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou City, hence the name. Its mother tree was planted by monks of Kaiyuan Temple during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty (1573-1620), and it died over 300 years later during the Anti-Japanese War. There is an ancient longan tree in Chengtian Temple in Quanzhou that is more than 200 years old. It is the oldest of the existing "Dongbi" longans. Today, "Dongbi" longans are widely bred in Quanzhou and other longan-producing areas in the province. Legend has it that in the early years, a monk in Xianyou took the "Dongbi" longan seedlings from Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou and planted them in Xianyou. Now there are 20,000 mature trees, named "Quanzhou version", but its quality is inferior to the original "Dongbi" longan.

"Dongbi" longan has excellent quality. Its peel has light yellow tiger stripes, which the people of Quanzhou call "flower shell", which is the most obvious difference from other longan varieties in appearance. "Dongbi" longan is also called "sugar melon honey". The flesh is light white, transparent like solidified fat, thick, tender and crisp, sweet and fragrant. It has the characteristics of "not getting wet when placed on paper, and not getting sand when dusted on the ground", which can be called a treasure among fruits.

There is also "Fuyan", which was originally called "Tiger Eye". "Quanzhou Prefecture Records" records that "the big one is called Tiger Eye". In Quanzhou dialect, "tiger" and "fu" sound similar, so "Fuyan" is used instead of "Tiger Eye" to represent its auspicious and beautiful meaning. Fuyan is the main variety grown in Quanzhou, with a cultivation history of more than 800 years. It has won the International Paris Tourism and Gourmet Gold Award and the China Agricultural Expo Quality Award. In recent years, it has been planted in large quantities in all longan producing areas throughout the province, and it is the variety with the largest cultivation area in our province. It is said that the large longan grown in Taiwan is also called "Fuyan" by local compatriots.