Aptly named Dragon’s Eye these are a fruit called Longan (Dimocarpus longan). The fruit is about the size of a large grape. The longan tree can grow to heights of 30-40 feet in height. It is native to southern China.
Longan is thought to be medicinal for a stomach ache and even insomnia. I can’t vouch for that but I will say they have a great taste. We got these fresh at Fubonn Supermarket in Portland, Oregon. I’ve read that they were introduced into Florida in the early 1900’s and do quite well there. I really don’t know where these came from.
I remember eating lots of these our last trip to Indonesia. To eat you squeeze the shell until it pops giving access to the white flesh inside. There is a single shiny black seed in the middle. You can get them in a can as well but they are not nearly as good as when fresh.
For this shot I peeled a few longan and filled a bowl with the unpeeled fruit. This was a 2 flash shoot with one flash placed directly camera right in a shoot through umbrella and another camera left in a Lumiquest Softbox III. The bowl and peeled fruit were placed on a white cutting board. Camera settings are below.
Canon 5DII | Tamron 28-75 | f/10 | 1/125th sec. | ISO 100
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