Dragonfruit
For a long time I have been enjoying a vitamin water flavor called "power-c." It is purportedly made with dragonfruit. I often wondered whether there was really such a fruit and, more importantly, what it really tasted like. After all, you can drink twenty different flavored waters and they can all seem to blend together.
During my last week in Honolulu, I was delighted when I came across dragonfruit in the grocery store. Too excited to pay attention, I grabbed a good-looking one and paid for it. I didn't realize the sign said "$6.99/lb" and my fruit weighed just over a pound.
Ouch. For $7.12 this had better be good.
I took it back to my room and, for the next couple of days, I simply admired its appearance. After all, it is a pretty looking fruit. The red outer skin has a rubbery texture with little green curls coming up off the surface. I wasn't sure how I wanted to peel it, so I carefully sank the knife into the skin and slowly worked my way down and around the curls. Surprisingly, once I sliced the outer skin from top to bottom, I was able to peel back the skin much like a cactus fruit. The lump of fruit looked much like a cactus fruit, and it was magenta in color. Next, I sliced the fruit in half only to discover a multitude of small black seeds like a kiwi except that they were scattered throughout the fruit.
I sliced off a piece of the fruit and tasted it. And, after all my other observations it shouldn't be shocking to hear me report that the dragonfruit tasted like, well, something between a cactus fruit and a kiwi. It was a little bland. Not being one to waste food, I soldiered through and ate the whole thing.
The very next day in the office, before I brought up my adventure with the dragonfruit, I overheard someone say, "You know, if you eat too much dragonfruit you can get a nosebleed."
I guess a pound of dragonfruit isn't too much.
Pictures of the dragonfruit are here.
During my last week in Honolulu, I was delighted when I came across dragonfruit in the grocery store. Too excited to pay attention, I grabbed a good-looking one and paid for it. I didn't realize the sign said "$6.99/lb" and my fruit weighed just over a pound.
Ouch. For $7.12 this had better be good.
I took it back to my room and, for the next couple of days, I simply admired its appearance. After all, it is a pretty looking fruit. The red outer skin has a rubbery texture with little green curls coming up off the surface. I wasn't sure how I wanted to peel it, so I carefully sank the knife into the skin and slowly worked my way down and around the curls. Surprisingly, once I sliced the outer skin from top to bottom, I was able to peel back the skin much like a cactus fruit. The lump of fruit looked much like a cactus fruit, and it was magenta in color. Next, I sliced the fruit in half only to discover a multitude of small black seeds like a kiwi except that they were scattered throughout the fruit.
I sliced off a piece of the fruit and tasted it. And, after all my other observations it shouldn't be shocking to hear me report that the dragonfruit tasted like, well, something between a cactus fruit and a kiwi. It was a little bland. Not being one to waste food, I soldiered through and ate the whole thing.
The very next day in the office, before I brought up my adventure with the dragonfruit, I overheard someone say, "You know, if you eat too much dragonfruit you can get a nosebleed."
I guess a pound of dragonfruit isn't too much.
Pictures of the dragonfruit are here.
