Fresh Longans

WHAT IS LONGAN?

It is commonly found in most of Asia, primarily in mainland China, Taiwan, Vietnam & Thailand. China, the main longan-producing country in the world, produced about 1,900 thousand tonnes of longan in 2015-2017. Vietnam & Thailand produced around 500 thousand & 980 thousand tonnes respectively. Like Vietnam, Thailand's economy relies heavily on the cultivation & shipments of longan as well as lychee. This increase in the production of longan reflects recent interest in exotic fruits in other parts of the world. However, the majority of the demand comes from Asian communities in North America, Europe & Australia.

The longan industry is very new in North America & Australia. Commercial crops have only been around for 20 years. In the United States, longan is grown in Florida, Texas, Nevada, Georgia, California, Hawaii & Arizona. They are also grown in Australia, along the eastern coast.

During harvest, pickers must climb ladders to carefully remove branches of fruit from longan trees. Longan fruits remain fresh if still attached to the branch, so efforts are made to prevent the fruit from detaching too early. Mechanical picking would damage the delicate skin of the fruit, so the preferred method is to harvest by hand. Knives & scissors are the most commonly used tools.

Fruits are picked early in the day in order to minimize water loss & to prevent high heat exposure which would be damaging. The fruits are then placed into either plastic crates or bamboo baskets & taken to packaging houses where the fruits undergo a series of checks for quality. The packaging houses are well-ventilated & shaded to prevent further decay. The process of checking & sorting are performed by workers instead of machinery. Any fruits that are split, under-ripe or decaying are disposed of. The remaining healthy fruits are then prepped & shipped to markets.

*Courtesy of Wikipedia

FROM HARVESTING TO THE DISTRIBUTION CHAIN