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Fermentation Atlas

Alcoholic drinks from Southern China

Longan wine桂圆酒

Longan wine is a fruit wine made by fermenting the juice of the longan (Dimocarpus longan) with wine yeast. In published methods the juice is pressed from the flesh, adjusted for sugar, sterilised, and fermented at about 30 °C for nine days. Some makers add longan seeds or a seed extract, which raises the wine's phenolics and antioxidant activity. Made in 4 steps over 9 days. The longest step, ferment, takes 9 days (Phovisay S. et al. 2024) and runs at 30 °C (Phovisay S. et al. 2024). Saccharomyces cerevisiae does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step9 daysReported[phovisay2024]Ferment
Temperature30 °CReported[phovisay2024][tandee2021]Ferment
AciditypH 6 → 3.85Measured[phovisay2024]Ferment

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceLaboratory recipes from Phovisay et al. 2024 and Tandee et al. 2021. No traditional batch size is published; the amounts describe the juice before fermentation.
Fresh longan flesh (aril) · E-dor cultivar in the Thai study; blended and pressed through cloth[phovisay2024]
Water, to adjust the juice to about 14 % Brix[phovisay2024]
Wine yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) · Commercial strains such as EC-1118 or Lalvin KD, or local isolates[phovisay2024][tandee2021][liu2018]
Up to 50 % seed in juice preparation, or 0.25–0.5 % (w/v) seed extractLongan seed (optional) · Adds tannins and phenolics[tandee2021][phovisay2024]
Starterdefined-culture (wine yeast)

Total time across the recorded steps: 9 days

Start
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What changes: Longan flesh is blended and the juice is pressed through cloth

Step 1 of 4
Blend the flesh and press out the juice
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Yeasts

Output: longan juice.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Longan wine is fermented from the fruit's own juice. The longan liqueur sold under the same name is longan flesh steeped in spirit and is not fermented. Adding longan seed, rich in tannin, raises the wine's phenolics and antioxidant activity but can slow tannin-sensitive yeasts.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Longan seed wineSeeds added during juice preparation (50 % seed in one study) or as an extract; more phenolics and antioxidant activity.
  • Longan liqueurNot a ferment: longan flesh macerated in spirit.

Safety

No safety limits specific to longan wine were found. Laboratory recipes sterilise the juice before adding yeast so that only the chosen strain ferments it.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Longan is one of the main fruits of northern Thailand, where it is dried, canned and frozen; wine is studied as a way to use the large harvest and its seeds, a by-product of drying.

  1. [phovisay2024] Phovisay S. et al. 2024, Tannin-tolerant Saccharomyces cerevisiae isolated from traditional fermented tea leaf (Miang) and application in fruit wine fermentation using longan juice mixed with seed extract as substrate, Foods 13(9):1335paper
  2. [tandee2021] Tandee K., Kittiwachana S., Mahatheeranont S. 2021, Antioxidant activities and volatile compounds in longan (Dimocarpus longan Lour.) wine produced by incorporating longan seeds, Food Chemistry 348:128921 (abstract)paper
  3. [liu2018] Liu G. et al. 2018, Fermentation process optimization and chemical constituent analysis on longan (Dimocarpus longan Lour.) wine, Food Chemistry 256:268–279 (abstract)paper
  4. [WP:Longan wine] Wikipedia, Longan wine (outline only)wiki