Longan & Lor Hong Kor Drink (Asian Cooling Drink)

When I was a little girl, my Grandma will brew this delicious drink to cool our bodies down during the hot summer season. When one of us gets a sore throat or cough out yellowish phlegm, she will say that we need to cool down our bodies. So, off she will go into the kitchen and brew this delicious drink.

So, what is lor hong kor? The scientific name is siraitia grosvenori and its grown in China and it has been used by Asians centuries ago as it has medicinal properties as it helps with colds, sore throats, cough, etc. As  for longans, its quite a common fruit found in Asian markets. Its scientific name is dimocarpus longan. In SEA, longan is also known as "mata kucing".  Another ingredient which my Grandma will use in this drink is "pong tai hai" fruit. This is a magical fruit as once its soaked in water, it will expand and you will just use the flesh. This little fruit cools down the body too. To sweeten the drink, we use rock sugar. However, I have heard of others who use brown or palm sugar.

The season is changing and my precious family are all falling sick, from the oldest to the youngest. So, since western medicine is not working much, I decided to whip up this simple cooling drink. Thank goodness we always stock-up these ingredients for the "just in-case".

Here's a photo of the ingredients which I used to make the logan & lor hong kor drink.

Check out the pong tai hai....the 1st photo are the fruits. Its like dried buah kana (dried carissa carandas)

After soaking the pong tai hai in water, it expanded and the inside of the fruit is jelly-like. You only eat the inside.

Here's my cup of longan & lor hong kor drink. I prefer to have mine with ice.

Till next time....kam peh (cheers!!!)