Harvesting Longans

Deep in the south of Miami is farm land where you see trees more than you see buildings. Gradually, avocados and even mangos are replaced by more exotic fruit trees such as longans, lychees, carambolas, guavas, sugar apples, jack fruits and many others, including the highly sought after herbs and spices essential for preparing flavorful and exotic dishes. At this time, the longans are in full swing and this very large grove is in high gear. All the trees are loaded and the work to pick, pack and ship the fruits is labor intensive. These trees are trimmed yearly so the fruits are more easily picked.

My longan trees are never trimmed so this year, the fruits are so high touching the blue sky they are left for the birds and squirrels. If I am lucky, I can get a few that fall to the ground and not yet eaten by others. And that's enough for me.

Longana Heaven

The longans on my trees are bursting from the seams. Harvesting time is upon us and it's going to be hard work in this heat.

Longana euphoria

Just a quick update to show you how the longan trees are doing in the heat of Miami. They are doing just great, thank you! This may be a great prelude to sinfully good longan ice cream.

Miami Insects

I have noticed that lots of rain usually make longan fruits split. That phenomenon provides an opportunity of a free meal to many insects that live almost invisibly in Miami (South Florida in general.) If you look closely, you can see many insects feeding on this single longan fruit. The pulp should be transparent (the name of this fruit is "Longan" literally meaning "Dragon Eye" so the flesh is transparent.) The fruit once peeled from its protective skin really looks like an eye ball. Not sure about the "Dragon" part. Here, the insects have transformed it into a cotton like mass. Chemistry has interesting ways to make matters change form. These insects look like 1/3 ant, 1/3 fly and 1/3 termite. Very interesting little creatures and I have never seen them around before. I now know they like longans.