Full of health benefits, the longan is the most popular fruit in northern Thailand, and one town celebrates it like no other
- Lamphun, near Chiang Mai, goes longan crazy in July and August, honouring the fruit full of vitamin C and riboflavin with an event-packed annual festival
- There’s fruit judging, an eating race, fancy-dress competition, even a Miss Longan contest; for visitors, the town has a number of non-edible attractions too
If you have ever eaten longans, you’ll know how easily the skin peels away and how readily the sweet and succulent flesh slips off the shiny seed.
Longans (lamyai in Thai) are grown mostly in southern China, north Vietnam and north Thailand.
In Thailand, the tiny town of Lamphun (pronounced “lam-poon”), just south of Chiang Mai, is the epicentre of longan fever during July and August, when the fruit is in season.
The fever reaches its height during the Lamphun Longan Festival, which this year runs from August 5 to 14, when activities such as a longan-eating race, a fancy-dress competition and a Miss Longan contest keep onlookers amused.
The festival usually kicks off with a parade of floats smothered in longans that makes its way through the town centre, but that has been suspended this year, due to ongoing concerns about Covid-19.
