If you’re looking for a delicious and nutritious juice to add to your diet, longan juice is a great choice! Longans are a type of tropical fruit that are known for their sweet flavor and nutritional benefits. Longan juice is packed with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, making it a healthy and tasty drink. In this blog post, we will discuss the benefits of longan juice and provide instructions on how to make it at home.
The Longan Fruit
Dimocarpus Longan, commonly known as longan fruit, is a pale exotic fruit that comes to the soapberry family. It is noted for its resemblance with lychee fruit. Longan is a perfect complement to desserts, ice creams, milkshakes, salad, and jams.
All you must do is strip away its hard layer for consuming longan. Longan tastes like grapes and appears like that of an orb once you pull the skin off. The black seed and white flesh look like a pupil. Hence, it is also named dragon eye fruit.
When eating Longan fruit do not forget to remove the seeds remember to remove the seeds before consuming longan. Longan is native to Southeast Asia and commonly cultivated in Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, and China. They can be treated to generate essential oil or extracts. It is also significant that longan fruit has a conspicuous function in traditional Chinese medicine.
Facts About Longans’ Nutrition
It’s possible that one ounce of longan contains fewer than 20 calories. Also, these fruits have relatively few carbohydrates, which could be beneficial for individuals following a ketogenic diet. However, longan can be a great source of various B vitamins, including folic acid, in addition to potassium and vitamin C. Copper, magnesium, phosphorus, and manganese are also present in longan. Certain antioxidant polyphenols, such as corilagin, gallic acid, and ellagic acid, may be present in the fruit, contributing to its potential to improve general health.
You can get longan in three different forms—fresh, dried, and canned—which makes it almost like three different components. Choose fresh fruit and consume it raw to maximize nutrient retention. Add depth of flavor to your food using longan, both canned and dried. Some recipes may call for rehydrating dried longan. Typically, canned longans are preserved in sugar syrup. All that extra sugar may be washed away with a quick rinse.
Longan Can be Used in:
- A delicious salad topping, especially when combined with citrus and mint.
- Freeze the longan without the shell. Take out and peel to enjoy a frozen snack.
- Add to a bowl with some additional diced fruits for a delicious salad. For variety, you can throw in some nuts or coconut.
- Smoothies made with longan fruit, coconut milk, and bananas are wonderful.
- You may use canned longan in substantial recipes like curries.
- Dry longans can be used in overnight oats or other oatmeal recipes by being diced and added before serving.
- Blend red dates and dried longans into a cup of traditional Asian tea.
- Make a spread out of the longan.
Health Benefits of Longan
Enhances Memory
Nootropic properties can be found in longan fruit. This means that memory and mental agility are improved after consuming the fruit extract. The longan fruit tonic is used to relieve anxiety in traditional Chinese medicine.
A recent study suggests that eating longan fruit could have positive effects on cognitive function. Because longan influences a brain circuit involved in memory retrieval. As a result, it serves to lower the probability of developing Alzheimer’s.
Improves Skin Health
Longan fruits successfully reverse the effects of aging due to their high vitamin C content. It reduces the appearance of discoloration, pimples, and fine lines. Also, longan reduces skin breaking and peeling. It also helps to keep the skin moisturized and young. Furthermore, this fruit aids in the synthesis of collagen. As a result, it promotes the development of new skin cells and it keeps the skin healthy.
Eased Anxiety
The dried berry has a relaxing effect and can be used to treat anxiety and insomnia. Longan tea, created by soaking Chinese red dates and dried longans in hot water, may help alleviate anxiety and warm the body during the colder months, according to traditional Chinese medicine.
Promote Better Sleep
The ability of longan extract to reduce anxiety and improve sleep duration was suggested in a study. Chinese tonics may have frequently included the fruit’s meat and tissues in its seeds to promote tranquillity and induce deep, restful sleep.
Lowering Blood Pressure
The high potassium content of longan aids in maintaining a healthy blood pressure. Potassium is often used as an example of a nutrient that is under consumed because the average American consumes only about half of what is recommended.
Prehistoric peoples had a diet that was roughly 16 times higher in potassium than sodium, while modern Americans have a diet that is twice as high in salt. This imbalance may be one cause for the prevalence of hypertension, according to some researchers. People who consume a proper amount of potassium have a reduced risk of stroke, which is likely due to the fact that high blood pressure is a risk factor for stroke.
Enhanced Vitality
According to Chinese folklore, eating a longan can restore the body’s Qi balance, which in turn can increase stamina, decrease dizziness, and speed up the metabolism. There have been millions of anecdotal accounts from China attesting to the fruit’s ability to increase stamina and productivity.
Cautionary Notes
There is currently no glycemic index for longan fruit, but it is high in carbohydrates and low in fiber. In other words, it may cause a rise in blood sugar levels.
People with diabetes should probably avoid eating too much longan, although it should be fine in moderation.
In general, it’s recommended to limit your intake of fruit to 15 grams of carbohydrates or less per serving.
A single serving of longan contains only 10 grams of carbs, making it safe for diabetics to consume. Those trying to control their sugar intake, whether for health or aesthetic reasons, could use this rule as a guideline.
Simple Longan Recipe
Longan Juice
Ingredients:
6 cups of water
2 and a half ounces of dried longans
1-and-a-half cups of sugar
Direction:
- To start, bring a pot of water to a boil and toss in the longans. Simmer for 20 minutes. Combine sugar and milk and stir.
- Second, refrigerate for at least an hour to ensure full flavor.
- Third, serve immediately over ice.
Longan Smoothies
Ingredients:
Five Longans
water or coconut milk to make 1 cup
one banana
Direction:
- Throw away the Longans’ husks.
- The longans should be pureed in a blender like the NinjaBL610 blender until they are completely smooth.
- Cut the banana into chunks and toss it into the blender with either coconut milk or water.
- Make a smooth paste by blending. Put in the fridge first if that’s how you roll.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a delicious and nutritious juice to add to your repertoire, look no further than the Longan. This Southeast Asian fruit is packed with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that are essential for a healthy diet. Plus, it’s incredibly easy to make – all you need is a blender and some fresh or frozen Longans! So what are you waiting for? Start juicing!
