Why We Love It: After lychee season is over, its cousin, the longan (Dimocarpus longan), appears in South Florida. Like golden-brown clusters of grapes, longans are also sweet and juicy beneath their inedible skins, with a shiny brown seed that makes each fruit look like an eyeball. Milder and less floral in flavor than lychees, longans are nonetheless a delicious and more plentiful fruit, their season lasting well into September.
Some farmers markets carry another relative, rambutan, a hairy-looking fruit with leathery red skin and sweet translucent flesh, but these are imported because they do not grow in Florida.
Both lychees and longans are ideal choices for cocktails, chopped up and added to fruit salads and blended with ginger and lime and frozen into a sorbet.
Find longan: Find at farmers markets and fruit stands in the Redland and Homestead starting in July.
