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Aroy Mak Mak

Longan

ลำไย

Lamyai: small, tan-skinned fruit from the north with musky, honeyed flesh.

Longan

Longan means “dragon’s eye” in Chinese, after the dark seed showing through its translucent flesh. The fruit is small, with a thin, light brown shell, and grows in large bunches. It is the signature fruit of northern Thailand.

Pronunciationlam-yai
FlavourSweet, musky and honeyed, less tart than lychee
SeasonJuly and August
EatenFresh, dried, in drinks and syrups

Where it grows

Most of Thailand’s longans come from Chiang Mai and Lamphun in the north, where the cool winters suit the trees. Lamphun holds a longan festival every August, complete with a beauty pageant, a parade of longan-covered floats and stalls selling every kind of longan product.

How it is eaten

Fresh, by pressing the thin shell until it cracks and popping out the fruit. Dried longan (lamyai haeng), dark brown and chewy with a smoky sweetness, is eaten as a snack and boiled with water and sugar to make nam lamyai, a cooling longan drink sold at street stalls everywhere. Longans in syrup are served over shaved ice.

Choosing and storing

Choose bunches with fruit still attached to the stems and shells that are dry and unblemished. They keep for about a week in the fridge in a bag.

Cook’s tip

Make nam lamyai at home: simmer 100 g dried longan in a litre of water for 20 minutes, sweeten to taste, chill and serve over ice with a few of the plumped fruit in each glass.

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