Longan are a tropical tree that puts out bunches of fruit. The thin, leathery skin splits easily and releases a tender, moist fruit. Imagine a peeled grape, although the flavor is less sweet and the interior seed is a lacquered black pit. I can pop them for hours.
Mrs. HowChow picked longan at the Super Grand on Sunday. She learned from a woman who didn't speak English, but pantomimed that you want fruit still attached to a branch or at least with a bit of stem on the end. If the stem was broken off, that might have left a hole and a dried out fruit.
(That's a lot to learn through pantomime, but Mrs. HowChow and another woman agreed that they'd learned the same lesson.)
I assume that longan are available at Lotte in Ellicott City and at H Mart in Catonsville. I think their season runs for a few more weeks in late summer.
While you're at it, pick up some lychee as well. They're a cousin to longan, slightly sweeter and moister than longan. They were also a key part to our first date and an early HowChow post.
(Update: Check out the A Day In The Life II blog for a post about how to eat longan and lychees. Great pictures and description. It's easy once you have eaten one, I promise.)
My spouse just posted a blog entry about how to choose and eat longan and lychee, two of his favorite fruits, in case that might be helpful to anyone. We bought ours at the Rolling Road H-Mart. :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.malcolmgin.com/blog/2011/08/08/how-to-eat-lychee-and-longan/