Longan
Food · Fruit · Food, Typed Supps
Longan is a sweet, juicy little fruit that packs a big dose of vitamin C into very few calories.
Stage by stage
- Peel and Bite (Mouth): Longan's translucent, juicy flesh is broken down by chewing while its natural sugars and vitamin C begin dissolving in saliva.
- Stomach (Stomach): In the stomach, longan's simple sugars and modest fiber are released for digestion, while its vitamin C remains largely stable in the acidic environment.
- Nutrient Absorption (Small intestine): The small intestine absorbs longan's vitamin C, copper, potassium, and B vitamins (riboflavin, niacin) into the bloodstream.
- Collagen Support (Connective tissue): Absorbed vitamin C is used throughout the body as a cofactor for collagen synthesis and as an antioxidant, supporting skin, blood vessels, and immune cell function.
Timing
Longan can be eaten any time as a snack or light dessert; its vitamin C doesn't require fat or a meal to be absorbed, though eating it fresh rather than dried or candied preserves the most vitamin C.
Time to effect
- Hours to weeks: Vitamin C from longan reaches the bloodstream within a few hours of eating, but the broader antioxidant and immune benefits linked to adequate vitamin C status depend on consistent intake over days to weeks, not one serving.
Allergens
None of the fourteen major allergens. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.
Eating patterns
Fits: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher, Gluten-free. Depends on the product: Low-FODMAP.
Satiety
153 on the satiety index, where white bread is 100 — high. Modelled from the Holt et al. (1995) measurements.
Environmental footprint
1.1 kg CO2e and 199 litres of freshwater per kg, matched to "Other fruit" in Poore & Nemecek (2018), Science 360.
Cost band
Cheap — roughly £3 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.
Key nutrients
Nutrition per 100g
- Calories: 60
- Protein: 1.3g
- Carbohydrate: 15.1g
- of which sugars: 14g
- Fat: 0.1g
- of which saturated: 0g
- Fibre: 1.1g
- Sodium: 0mg
Food vs. supplement
Whole longan provides vitamin C together with potassium, copper, riboflavin, and fiber in one food matrix, offering more than an isolated vitamin C supplement alone.
Kitchen tip
Peel and remove the hard black seed before eating -- it's a choking hazard, not food -- and rinse the fruit well, since fresh longan is sometimes fumigated with sulfur dioxide for shelf life.
Common myth
"Longan is basically just sugar water in a shell -- more candy than real fruit." In reality: Fresh longan is genuinely nutrient-dense for its calorie count, providing about 84 mg of vitamin C (93% DV) and notable copper per 100 g at only 60 calories; it's the dried, candied, or syrup-canned versions that concentrate sugar and dilute this profile.
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