Last week, instead of me surprising you with a new food for New Food Friday, you surprised me when many of you let me know that you’ve been eating sardines all along. Some were lucky enough to have the fresh sardines! I am envious but I am happy to know that you are eating food that is good for you! My hat’s off to you fellow sardinians!
OK, so that upped the ante for me to find something more exotic to introduce you to on New Food Friday. I think I found it: White Dragon Fruit.
No, no, no, there is no fire-breathing dragon involved and the taste is not fire-y hot either. Some say it is a mildly sweet taste; a cross between a kiwi and a watermelon.
No, White Dragon Fruit has nothing to do with a water-breathing dragon either.
Or a lighted dragon either for that matter.
And no, I’m not talking about a Drag Queen. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
I’m talking about a Dragon Fruit. The outside skin is a beautiful color. It is described as red but I wouldn’t call it red. It may be more of a cranberry color. The texture of the skin is waxy, like a candle.
You can see how it gets it’s name because of the way the leaves simulate scales like a dragon’s scales. Yes, you’re correct, fish also have scales but we did fish last week. This week we’re doing dragons. What has gotten into you? Was it too much turkey yesterday?
The inside of a Dragon Fruit can be either white (with little seeds that are crunchy like kiwi seeds)
or red like the outside skin, or even yellow. There are no quills, spines, or needles to worry about on this fruit even though the tree from which it grows is considered a cactus.
The Dragon Fruit flower is gorgeous. 
Note the fire-y red stamen coming out of the flower. Again, mimicking a dragon’s breath. According to Wikipedia, the flowers bloom overnight and are pollinated by bats. All we need now is a vampire to round out the image of this fruit! The image below is what the Dragon Fruit tree looks like. 
According to the photographer, this is the largest Dragon Fruit tree in the world and is located in Icod de Los Vinos, in northern Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain). Estimates of its age vary between 500 and 3,000 years old!
Nowadays these fruits are grown in Florida and California and it is said that they are catching on the way kiwi have caught on. Dragon Fruits are also known as Pitahaya.
Nutritional facts vary and may depend on which type of Dragon Fruit you purchase. The fruit I bought was manufactured by the Melissa brand which showed little beneficial vitamins or nutrients on her website for this fruit. Other websites said they are high in vitamin C, rich in phosphorus and calcium with free radical fighters known to contain phytoalbumin antioxidants. However, nobody would argue that they are low in calories and high in fiber. They are native to Mexico, Central and South America, East Asia, and Southeast Asian countries, among others.
How to Serve
Dragon Fruit tastes best eaten raw and chilled. You can sprinkle lemon or lime juice over a slice. It is sometimes made into a sorbet or drink. I sprinkled lemon juice on my slices otherwise this fruit would hardly have any flavor at all in my opinion. I wouldn’t recommend serving the fruit at a dinner party because the black seeds stick in your teeth like crazy and everyone eating it would look like they had rotten teeth! It’s a fun fruit to try but unless I got a bad one, I would not be tempted to try it again. You might have a good laugh eating it with your kids due to all the seeds.
And Finally
When you’re draggin’ after eating all that turkey, eat a piece of Dragon Fruit to perk you up – it’s refreshing! That’s it folks. I’m all out of dragon jokes today. Have a good one.
UPDATE 12/8/12 : Kenley, of Green Door Hospitality told me that she thought she saw Dragon Fruit being used as a beauty treatment in the movie, “Mirror, Mirror” with Julia Roberts. I watched the movie last night. Sure enough, they were slicing a Dragon Fruit and placing the slices over Julia’s (who played the queen) eyes! Good catch Kenley! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
….and sharing with a friend who will find this interesting. Thank you!
I just explored this dragon fruit post and loved the way you found gorgeous photos to liven it up. I envy your ability to scan or drag pictures and add them to your posts. I sometimes think about it. Maybe my second year in, I will experiment with decorating my stories! You should be “Freshly Pressed!”
Awww, you’re so nice. Thank you! It’s time consuming to get those photos but I don’t mind. I use mostly one website. I send each photographer an e-mail telling him/her that I will be using their photo. They come from all over the world. Sometimes they write me back. I put my email address and my blog address in the email. I think they get a kick out of having their photo shown on an American blog ; – ) You can get photos from the same page as your blog post. They are either wikipedia or flickr photos. They’re in the lower right hand side of the post page. Do a test post and play around with it until you get the hang of it. I’ve used a few of those photos too.
I’ve never heard of dragon fruit before! It looks really cool – though good to know that it’ll get stuck in the teeth! ^.^
LOL! You wouldn’t believe what I looked like after I ate it. I thought about taking a photo but it was just too gross! lol!
I tried dragon fruit for the first time in Barcelona and loved it. That’s an interesting tree.
What did it taste like to you? I may have to try it again.
How interesting!! I have never heard of dragon fruit. Regardless of flavor (or lack there of
) I think it would be a beautiful fruit to use in an arrangement! Maybe that is the better purpose of it! 
Kenley
If you try it, let me know what you think. Maybe mine was too ripe, I’m not sure.
So, I haven’t gotten to try this yet… BUT, I watched the movie Mirror, Mirror with Julia Roberts and I would swear that they used dragon fruit as a beautifying treatment for her eyes in the movie!
LOL! No kidding?!! I bet you’re right! I will have to get that movie. Thank you for letting me know! I wouldn’t put that stuff on my eyes! That’s crazy! With all those little seeds? I’ll let you know if I see the movie.
Hi Marcella, I liked all your photo’s. Great story. I also posted about Dragon fruit this summer, it’s really tasty isn’t it? My post was a little on the silly side, but then again, so am I
Your pix are amazing & I live how you weave your words thro’ ESP your jokes on drag queen
Hehehe. The drag queen line was an after-thought after I finished most of the post. I think I may have been half asleep in the morning when it came to me. That’s often a creative time for me. Most of the time the problem is trying to remember it until I get to the computer! The Dragon Fruit name gave me a good opportunity to do a play on words with pictures!
I know what you mean
I get Loads of ideas when I’m not at my laptop
Still can’t complain when I start writing more ideas like to flow
If I ever come across one of these I’m going to try it, now that I feel confident that I could actually identify it. The ‘strange fruit’ section in a food store can be intimidating. Excellent dragon pictures!
Thank you! It’s incredible that we have access to these strange fruits. Yet they are not so strange to the people who eat them often ; – ) I was amazed at all the dragon pix that were out there! It was hard to choose! If you do try it, let me know what you think!