The lychee fruit can be eaten fresh, frozen, dried or canned. Thawed fruit can be used in the same way as freshly picked fruit without any loss of colour or flavour. The fruit can be peeled, pitted and canned and the juice of most cultivars is sufficiently sweet for the fruit to be processed without adding sugar. Canned longans are very acceptable and the taste is considered better than canned lychees. The differences in times of flowering and fruit maturity are due to differences in rainfall and in day and night temperatures.
Longans require a period of low minimum temperature to induce panicle and flower initiation.
However, they are sensitive to frost and are killed or severely injured by prolonged temperatures below freezing. Cultivar differences in cold tolerance have been noted in China. Productivity of longan is closely linked to climatic conditions during flowering and fruit maturation. Longan can survive droughts but adequate water is required for good production. Excessive rainfall during flowering causes flower drop and prevents pollination and fruit set.