To All,
I don't feel comfortable at Whole Foods because of its staggeringly high prices and its snooty atmosphere. Nevertheless, feeling that it was the Fruit Explorer's duty, several months ago I went to Whole Foods and found that they did not have any fruits outside the mainstream. This suited me fine; henceforth, I happily stayed away. Now, however, because Market Basket has taken the gas-pipe and, at least for now, removed itself from the land of the living, and also because of a tip from Robin, I went back to Whole Foods and, finding a variety of fruits, scored some dragon fruit.
The eye-catching dragon fruit, with its armor plating and flourishes at the tip of each scale, looks like another living fossil from a prehistoric age; see the picture of my dragon fruit ripening on my window sill. The tips of the scales show better in the second picture, which is from the Internet. Despite this unearthly look, dragon fruit is in the cactus family; see the next two pictures. In fact, in size, shape, and coloring, the dragon fruit looks much like the cactus pear that I reported on. If you don't have a green thumb and are looking for something hardy that you can grow, maybe you should try this cactus.
The Internet provided a video on how to eat dragon fruit at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynRkdlpjl7E. All you do is cut it in half, scoop out the meat with a spoon, and cut it up however you like. Pictures below show my dragon fruit whole on my cutting board, cut in half, and with the fruit scooped out. This preparation was extremely quick and easy. The empty half-shells can serve as fruit cups; you can load the dragon fruit back into them after cutting it up. (The cutting board in these pictures is my primary cutting board, which you have not seen before; in the jack fruit pictures you saw my back-up cutting board.)
Now for the taste test. I took a big bite of dragon fruit and chewed it thoughtfully. The taste was just barely perceptible, and what taste there was hovered on the borderline between pleasant and unpleasant. It did have a nice texture provided by numerous small black seeds, reminiscent of poppy seeds. In short, the dragon fruit combines the size, shape, color, and taste of the cactus pear with the soft, scoopable-with-a-spoon fruit and the host of small black seeds of the kiwi. All that the dragon fruit contributes of its own is its funny exterior look and the ready-made fruit cups.
Of course, there are other ways to eat dragon fruit--as chips, a popsicle, or in Bacardi Dragon Berry, which is a rum drink described at http://www.bacardi.com/us/products/all-rums/bacardi-dragon-berry as having "...a unique blend of ripe juicy strawberries and sweet, exotic dragonfruit that creates a bold flavor that no other flavored spirit offers." If you don't like rum, you can have Dragon Fruit Vodka, or you can choose from a variety of soft drinks.
The verdict is that the appeal of dragon fruit is more visual than gustatory. With a price of $3.05 (remember, this is an inflated Whole Foods price) for a fruit the size of a medium pear, dragon fruit cannot be recommended as anything beyond a visual garnish.
Dragon fruit seems to be another fruit that the marketeers have gotten hold of. They have given it a flashy name (replacing "pitaya") and taken advantage of its striking exterior to try to hide the fact that for eating this is a very pedestrian fruit. (Remember not only that this verdict is based on a sample size of one but also that there are many species of dragon fruit that come from two genera in the cactus family.)
Your party tip takes advantage of dragon fruit's built-in fruit cup and visual appeal without making your guests eat an entire serving. Give each guest a scooped-out dragon fruit half to serve as a fruit cup and guide them to a fruit bar that offers diced fruits that you have learned about in these e-mails. Each guest can then build a fruit salad to his or her own taste. Use your new digital camera to take a picture of each guest along with his or her customized fruit salad. For women, before taking their picture allow them to slip into the dragon fruit princess dress. While your guests eat their fruit salad, print out each picture and stick it in a frame from the Dollar Store. You can then send each guest home with a never to be duplicated reminder of your party. As for the left-over dragon fruit, maybe your dog will eat it. Alternatively, use it to make candles.
The Fruit Explorer
