I have tasted lychees, and I think they're superb--one of the best-tasting fruits. But I've seen on this forum that many people have a hard time getting them to fruit and a few even intend to chop them down.

john- i think most of the people who have difficulty getting them to fruit live outside of florida or in northern florida. also some varities fruit more than others. mauritius lychee, which is my personal favorite, fruits pretty much every year without fail

Longans are less picky then Lychees when it comes to fruiting. Longans also have a little more cold tolerance. Lychees are the best tasting of the two, longans take a little more of an acquired taste (they are excellent in their own unique flavor).

I love lychees, but I love longans more. Longans are also less susceptible to wind damage during new growth flush.

Count me as another who prefers longans over lychees. I have the opportunity to eat them several months of the year. I like the crispiness longan pulp over that of lychees. I actually like both, but of the two, I'd pick a longan anytime. Also, longan is much easier to grow outside of Florida. Mine has been doing fine in 100+ F summer weather and low 30s currently.

Ahhh, the age old debate about lychee vs. longan. I am in the lychee tastes better camp, by a considerable margin. I have this ongoing arguement with a friend of mine. In support of his longan preference, he says that it takes a more experienced and distinguished palate to really appreciate longans. Lychess more or less club you over the head (err..maybe tongue would be a better allusion) while longans a more delicate, more spicy....etc......you get the idea. He cites the alleged fact that most Chinese fruit lovers prefer longan to lychee when push comes to shove. Not being Chinese, and having seen no polls on this, I am left wondering if this is, in fact, true. Any Chinese folks out there who can give us an opinion or observation on this point?

Harry

harry- i have heard this 'Chinese people prefer longan" allegation before, but not sure if I heard it from you or from my local Chinese lychee distributor.

personally, it is truly a mystery to me how lychees are not everyone's flat out favorite fruit and how mauritius are not everyone's favorite lychee variety.

john- here is a link to some very interesting lychee and longan videos on you tube posted by florida university (there are also some vids on other toprical fruit such as mango and carambola)

Here is a link that might be useful: lychee and longan vids

I feel like I've encountered tons of people who prefer longans over lychees.

I enjoy both but like lychees much better myself

The longan reminds me of a really sweet honey dew melon. Personally I prefer lychee, but I think that's an artifact of my 'americanized' palate which prefers some acidity (longan has none). And, I'd try to plant early lychees and late longans to complement the mango season. (Fruits that mature during the height of mango season tend to get under eaten :-)

There are some longans that have a really strong musky aftertaste. I think the diamond river is one. I try to stay away from those.

Jeff

Biew Kiew longan was really good and it seemed like it was fairly late.

Jeff

Just about all the asians I know prefer Lychees over Longan. We typically only eat Longan when there are no Lychees left. I personally prefer Lychees over Longan but over the past several years, I have become more and more fond of Longan.

I really got turned onto Longan when I purchased some very large Longan from Lycheesonline.com. Their Longan are huge, about quarter size, with excellent flesh to seed ratio and extremely sweet. I believe they are growing the Kohala variety and I'm sure they do a lot of thinning to get the fruit to size up. I typically pass on the tiny dime-nickel sized Longan at the asian markets.
Simon

I don't understand how anyone can prefer longan over lychee. Longans fruit are much smaller, less flesh, hard shell makes it difficult to crack open or peel without rupturing the inner fruit membrane and getting juice all over the place, the flavor is sweet, reminiscent of honeydew melon, but otherwise lacking in flavor. Lychee seems like a clear winner, has a wonderful perfumed aroma like rose water, nice flavor. The only thing I will say is that eating more than about 15 or 20 lychee fruit, the back of my throat begins to feel a little bit irritated (almost itchy or dry, like when you're sick and have been coughing a lot), this never happens with longan.

But my chinese friend, who grew up eating lychee and longan, says he prefers longan. Supposedly I have read some people think they have a slight gardenia-like aroma, which I think must be barely detectable if it is there, but maybe that's only true of the best longan. I've tasted longan from several different places.

If I had to rate them on a scale of 1 to 10, lychee would get a 10 (maybe a 9.5) and longan would get a 5.

It is true that longan are easier to grow than lychee. Longan trees are a bit more cold-hardy, take less water, are a little more drought tolerant, and are more productive and certainly more reliable at producing fruit.

Now if we bring up the subject of Rambutan, Rambutan is probably my least favorite of the 3, although it ranks closely to below Longan. It has a slightly sour, almost slightly "putrid" flavor that is off-putting to me.