Audio By Carbonatix
Florida-grown dragon fruit are now in season, and if you’ve seen one in the supermarket recently, you probably wondered what the hell it is. It’s football-shaped, bright purple, and has dried-up leaves shooting out like thorns.
Although the dragon fruit looks pretty damned imposing, it’s actually easy to prepare. Here’s how.
If it’s fresh, the dragon fruit will have a little give to the outside
skin, and a sharp knife will slide through easily. Cut it lengthwise
while avoiding jokes about slaying a dragon.
Slide a spoon between the inedible skin and the fruit in the center.
Scrape any leftover bits of fruit from the skin and then chop the fruit.
Plate it by returning the chunks to the hollowed-out skin, which makes a fine bowl.
The
fruit has a delicate melon flavor and the texture of watermelon. The
seeds are similar to those found in a kiwi. By itself, it’s not exactly a
flavor or texture you’ll want by itself, which may be why there are few
recipes out there for them.
The best one, although I haven’t tried it, may be this link for a dragon fruit sorbet.
It works well in tossed and fruit salads, where, even though
you can’t taste it much, it sure looks good. A lot better than it did at
the beginning.
