Longaan are like lychee's milder cousin—without the tartness, it's more straightforward and sweet.

My brother and I would eat so many of these growing up we'd be warned about getting yeet hay, an imbalance of "hot" or yang energy. Obviously I always have a lot of yang energy 😉

Long aan means "dragon eye," and fittingly his Chinese name is hong long, "red dragon."

As any first gen knows, peeling (and in this case, pitting) is a declaration of love when words (and language) fail. I remember my 婆婆 stacking up small mounds of fruit for me to pop.

Also, I've seen it spelled "longan" which sounds in my head like "long 'un" to me... plus it's an anglicization anyway I'll spell it how I want 💅