What to do with longan seeds?
The powder of dried longan seeds can be used for treating bleeding, dampness, hernia, lymphomegaly of the neck and armpit, odour, scabies and eczema, as described in another TCM pharmacopoeia named Chinese Herbal Medicine. Excessive longan intake often causes oral dryness, oral ulcers, gum bleeding and swelling, a status called “shanghuo” in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) system.
What are the benefits of longan seeds?
Longan, or dragon’s eye, contains essential nutrients like vitamin C. It may have benefits for immune health, heart function, and weight management. Longan seeds have long been used as a folk medicine in China for treatment of acariasis, hernia, wound hemorrhages, eczema, and scrofula (2). It also has anticancer, hypogly-cemic, and anti-uremic effects (3-6).
Can longan seeds be eaten?
Good news: Longan fruit is safe to eat for most people and is not known to be toxic to pets or humans. That said, longan seeds are not edible—they’re hard and bitter, so skip chewing on those. Longan seeds have been found to be a rich source of antioxidant phenolic compounds, such as gallic acid, corilagin, and ellagic acid (7). Gallic acid has a strong antioxidant effect, and ellagic acid has cytotoxic effect on cancer cells, but not normal human lung fibroblast cells (8, 9).