Background

The longan is one of the most exotic fruit tree and is loved and known by most Asian people. The first 5 longan trees were brought to Thailand by Chinese merchant in 1896 and presented to one of our King Rama IV's consorts. Two were planted in Bangkok and other in Chang-Mai, Chang-Rai, Lumpoon, etc.

Longan has many names such "Lumyai" for Thailand, "Dragon's eyes" for Chinese and "Longan" for all international fruit lovers.

The Longan tree is a bushy evergreen that can reach some 10 - 20 meters in hieght. The Longan fruit grows in clusters hanging from the branches. The white or pinkish flesh of the fruit is protected by a brittle yet hard outer shell which is easily to peal. The taste is very sweet and succulent with distinctive musky flavor. The fruit has a small black seed - as black as dragon eyes. Longan is known among Chinese "Dragon eye fruit" the name is derived from Chinese "Longyan" which mean just that . Few of these longan orchards are owned and operated by hill tribe people, but mostly  they are independent local farmers. To increase their orchard revenues the farmers have introduce bee hives amongst their longan trees. The obvious benefits are for both the trees and honey. The honey bees pollinate the longan flowers whilst in bloom. The honey bees also collect the longan nectar and carry it back to their hives, thus introducing the exotic longan flavor and aroma into the honey.

Production

The season for Longan fruit is from June to August each year and flowers from January to March, exhibiting a bunch of small beautiful round yellowish brown flower, hence honey bees transfer the nectar at this time and the honey is collected only once each year whilst bloom. The honey is then collected from the farmers and processed in our central production facility. Our production facility utilizes modern processing machinary and the very highest quality control standards. The factory is licensed by the Thai government for export and as such it is regularly checked and reviewed by officials.

During production, to ensure it's gourmet status the natural honey is dehydrated of excess water to exacting standards, thus the remaining honey concentrate is always uniform in it's strength of taste and aroma as well as it's consistency.

Hilltribe Gourmet Longan Honey