Nam lamyai (longan drink)

Nam lamyai, the longan drink, belongs to the tradition of Thai sweet drinks sold from street carts and market stalls, where fruit is cooked or steeped in syrup and served over ice. Longan (Dimocarpus longan) is grown most abundantly in the north, around Chiang Mai and Lamphun, and the drink is carried by the vendors who sell fruit and cooling drinks by the glass or the bag. David Thompson includes it among the street drinks of Thai Street Food, where such drinks are the counterpoint to the salt, chilli and fat of the food around them.

Nam lamyai is a pale, lightly perfumed drink made from the flesh of longan, either the fresh fruit or the dried, simmered in water with sugar and strained or served with the fruit in the glass. The fruit is a small round drupe with a thin brittle brown shell, translucent white flesh and a glossy black stone; the flesh gives a musky, honeyed sweetness quite unlike that of lychee. Made from dried longan, the drink takes on a deeper, almost smoky amber colour and a more caramelised flavour. It is served very cold, over crushed ice, in a tall glass or a plastic bag tied round a straw.

Nam lamyai is drunk with the hot, salty and fatty foods of the street: grilled pork and chicken, fried dishes, and curries and relishes eaten with rice. Its sweetness and cold soothe the palate between mouthfuls of chilli, and its gentle, musky perfume does not compete with the stronger flavours on the plate. The structure is that of all Thai sweet drinks, in which sugar and ice answer salt and heat so that the meal can continue.