Dragon Fruit

Behold the mighty dragon fruit (hylocereus ondatus)! It is a bit fearsome in appearance but actually is very soft and rubbery to the touch. It does have some weight to it, much like grapefruit that is ready to eat. The peel, although colorful, and quite a contrast to the inside, is not edible. The inside is white with tons of little black seeds, all of which are edible. Not an incredibly sweet fruit, it is a little starchy and like a very dense watermelon, or like a kiwi without the acid and the juice. It has no discernable odor (but as though of you who know me, I am a bit impaired in the olfactory department). It was tasty, but I would not walk a mile to eat one.
[ I have two pretty good photos of the outside and inside of this fuit- but continue to have problems loading up photographs on this site- go run a google search on this and check wikipedia out- check back here later- I might have the problem solved]
I just did a search on this fruit and found that it is also called pitaya and is basically the fruit of a cactus. It is native to Mexico and Central and South America, but is also grown in South Asia. Like a cactus, the large white flower that is later the fruit, blooms at night and for one day.* It is high in fibre (yay!!) and vitamin C and is said to help reduce cholesterol and in some cases help with asthma. I know I said that I would not walk very far to get another one of these, but it might be a good idea for my health to eat a few more!!



* When I read about the cactus part, it suddenly made all kinds of sense. It bears a great deal of resemblance to the saguaro cactus fruit on the inside.