You take a sharp knife, cut it in half and eat it by scooping out the innards with a spoon!
Seriously!
Don’t believe me?
OK, here we go…
The other day I was picking up some fruit at the local super market when my eyes fell on these pretty strange looking, bright pink, sort of scaly fruits that were about 12 – 15 cm long (5-6") and with varying diameters making some look somewhat elongated and others almost perfectly round.
I just had to pick one up to see what this was. Well, the tag said that this was a "Dragon Fruit", aptly named so as the skin certainly had that dragon scales look and the shape of some of them made them look positively medieval in a fairytale sort of way.
I’d never seen these before, certainly not in the local supermarkets. I conservatively put one of them in my basket and, after checking out, brought the Dragon back to my house.
I had no clue what I had just brought home. I assumed it was edible and that you would be able to eat it raw. I Googled around for a bit and in no time found all my answers.
A Dragon Fruit is:
- the fruit of several species of cactii
- also known as ‘strawberry pear’, ‘pitaya’ or ‘pitahaya
- immune system enhancing, antioxidant, vitamin rich, digestive tract function boosting, colon cancer and diabetes fighting, blood pressure and cholesterol reducing as well as cough and asthma targeting in it’s health benefits department
- low in calories
- very zen
These Dragons come in 3 different versions:
- Hylocereus undatus – pink skin and white flesh
- Hylocereus polyrhizus – pink skin and red flesh
- Selenicereus megalanthus – yellow skin and white flesh
You already know how to eat this Dragon since I told right at the beginning, however, it is widely recommended to chill the beast in the fridge prior to devouring. As you will see from the pictures below, the fruits have dark seeds throughout – a bit like a Kiwi. One warning – this fruit looks more exotic and exiting than it tastes. The taste is actually pretty bland but reminiscent of a Kiwi-Melon hybrid.
So there, go slay a Dragon 🙂
