Huge Biew Kiew Longans - Pictures

[bradflorida]

Purchased some Biew Kiew Longans today at Pine Island (Bokeelia).  These are probably the last of the season.  They were huge.  The grower (John Painter) said he didn't thin the fruit, but that sometimes longan trees just produce oversized fruit.  Other Biew Kiew trees of his have produced normal sized fruit this season. 

The large fruit were more mild, and less sweet.  I found their flavor to be quite enjoyable, as typical longans are a bit on the sweet side to me. 

Brad

[Cookie Monster]

YEEEEEEEEE HAWW!!! That's the only longan I planted in my yard. Late season and YUMMY!

[bradflorida]

Here is a comparison with  the Biew Kiews I purchased last week from the same grower, but picked from a different tree.  These smaller ones are the typical size that Biew Kiew longans are, according to him.

[bradflorida]

I have a Biew Kiew and a Sri Chompoo tree.  These seem to be the top two choices in Thailand per my research. 

Can anyone confirm whether or not these 2 varieties have the same or slightly different fruiting seasons?  The grower I purchased the longans from sold out of his Sri Chompoos about a month ago, but this may have been because he said he filled a special order of 500 lbs of Sri Chompoos, which possibly wiped him out early.

Brad

[Berto]

Job Painter grows the most incredible fruits!  One of the nicest orchards I have visited in Southwest Florida!
He does a great deal of foliar spraying. 

[bsbullie]

I have a bag of fresh Kohalas in the fridge that were grown in Palm Beach County and picked last weekend...thanks Larry, they are quite tasty!!

[Pasca]

Can someone chime in about the difference between biew kiew and kohala?  I have the latter and have been eying another longan.  I'd appreciate some input that can help me to make a decision.  Thanks.

Freshly picked longan has wonderful taste and flavor.

[Cookie Monster]

What the hack. I thought kohala was finished by late sept?

I have a bag of fresh Kohalas in the fridge that were grown in Palm Beach County and picked last weekend...thanks Larry, they are quite tasty!!

[Mike T]

These are biew kiews I previously posted about in june.

The vendor claimed they were from a larger 'line' and not unusual in winter.In cooler places I would expect them to be later.Some of them were even larger than those in the pix.

[bradflorida]

Mike,

Did your huge biew kiews also have a milder almost watered down taste?

Brad

[Mike T]

Brad, Oscar advised that longans left on the tree too long can puff up,go dry and lose their flavor.The ones I had were not like that being sweet and juicy.I have seen older longans that go loose in the skin,get thicker skin and go drier and whitish inside but as I said these were different.

[bradflorida]

When I had a friend taste some today, she said " they taste like little cantaloupes".  Then I realized se was right.   They taste like cantaloupe flavored longans!   

Brad

[beefyboy]

They taste like cantaloupe with a strong vanilla finish. I just described these fruit to a girl and wanted to show her pics of the fruit and saw this old post describing the flavor the same way as I did minus the vanilla.