EDITOR NOTES

—Childhood story 

I don't know if I enjoy gardening because I grew up in a family of small farmers, or that it's just a natural leaning.  When I was 7 years old,  we were visiting our small village home in KaiPing, Goung Zhou province.  Our family had moved out to the city but we would visit on Chinese New Year because it was our ancestral home.  That year, longans were the dessert of choice.  I remembered them being unbelievably sweet and that I had persistently badgered my father about growing them.  Eventually, he relented and allowed me to bury the seeds on our small plot of land.  He really did not expect them to grow as none of us were there to water them.  The next year we went back, several grew into small shrubs!  Then the years rolled together and we emigrated to the U.S. 3 years later.  Dad said the trees were still there, producing fruit, when they had to cut them down to build a larger ancestral home 14 years later.

Besides the scrumptious flavor of this fruit, this sweet memory is my special connection to longans.  I never knew of its benefits until I started researching for this post.

—Overdosed on dried longans

I bought a pack of dried longans for tea before I started this post.  I also had a sweet tooth that night and not thinking logically, I grabbed a couple of handful and ate them as snack.  Well, that night, I had a awful time falling asleep.  I thought I was having hot flashes.  I'm naturally cold oriented and I was burning up under my covers.  It was in the 30's outside!  I remembered my mother use to say that if you're cold, eat some longan.  Sure enough, longans are warming, and I must have eating 20-30 of them!  When they're dry, they pretty small and easy to munch on.  So be careful not to overdose like I did, or at least don't eat them right before bed.