To continue my series of exotic fruits, may I present...
Red Dragonfruit!"The fruits grow on a climbing cactus that develops long branches that travel along fences, scale walls, and wrap around trellises. Dragon fruits are native to Central and South America and are also known as Red Pitahaya or Red Pitaya. There are many different varieties of Red Dragon fruits, and the red cultivars are generally considered rarer than white and yellow types. Growers favor Red Dragon fruits for their pigmented flesh, sweet taste, higher flowering rate, and a larger quantity of fruit production. The fruits are often sold at higher, luxury prices in commercial markets and are consumed fresh, incorporated into raw dishes, cooked into sauces and syrups, or blended into desserts and cocktails. Red Dragon fruits include varieties known as Red Jaina Natural Mystic, Zamorano, Costa Rican sunset, and Strawberry Pear cactus, and the fruits are commercially sold fresh, frozen, and dried.
"Red Dragon fruits have a mild, sweet, and subtly earthy flavor well suited for fresh and cooked preparations. The fruits are traditionally consumed straight out of hand, cut in half, and scooped directly from the rind with a spoon. Many prefer to refrigerate the fruits before eating, as chilling enhances the flesh’s flavor. Red Dragon fruits can also be sliced into fruit and acai bowls, tossed into salads, chopped into slaws, or combined with an acid, peppers, and spices to make a flavorful topping or side dish. Try incorporating Red Dragon fruits into pancake batter to create a rosy-hue breakfast dish. Red Dragon fruits can also be blended into smoothies or frozen into popsicles, ice cream, and sorbet. Beyond fresh preparations, Red Dragon fruits can be simmered into syrups and sauces and combined into cookies, cakes, macaroons, and other desserts. It is important to note that the red pigment in the flesh will stain skin, surfaces, and clothing, so care should be taken. In mixology, Red Dragon fruits are used as coloring, flavoring, and as an edible garnish in cocktails. The flesh can also be cubed, frozen, and dropped into champagne to infuse a pink hue. Outside of the fruit, the young flower buds can be cooked and prepared as vegetables, or the dried flowers can be steeped into herbal tea. Red Dragon fruits pair well with other fruits such as pineapples, strawberries, bananas, coconut, and blueberries, seafood including white fish, shrimp, and crab, tofu, rice, sesame, cashews, shallots, and garlic. Whole, unopened Red Dragon fruits will keep for a couple of days at room temperature and 1 to 2 weeks when stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Sliced and cubed flesh can be frozen in the freezer for extended use.
Thanks Specialty Produce
Today's quote:
Always demand a deadline. A deadline weeds out the extraneous and the ordinary. It prevents you from trying to make it perfect, so you have to make it different. Different is better.
Don’t be the smartest person in the room. Hangout with, and learn from, people smarter than yourself. Even better, find smart people who will disagree with you.
Kevin Kelly
Kevin Kelly is founding executive editor of Wired magazine, and a former editor/publisher of the Whole Earth Review. He has also been a writer, photographer, conservationist, and student of Asian and digital culture.
Now that is interesting, as often chilling does anything but enhance a fruit's flavour.
ReplyDeleteI have many a cold fruit, so didn't know that.
Delete...I'm an apple fan, local apples!
ReplyDeleteLet's see, yes, we have local apples too!
DeleteLove the way dragonfruit look, but I have yet to eat one that does not have texture of styrofoam. 🤭
ReplyDeleteOh my, they don't mention that in the description! I was more concerned about how the red juices stain things!
DeleteYou do see some interesting fruits there.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes have been considering trying new things. The plant based diet has been set aside and I'm living with my own tastes.
DeleteI'm going to have to try one even though they don't sound particularly enticing.
ReplyDeleteOK, let me know what you think!
DeleteNever heard of red dragon fruit but it does sound interesting.
ReplyDeleteI thought so too, when I looked it up on line!
Deleteapples, bananas and the occasional orange
ReplyDeleteYes, those are my standard ones plus pears!
DeleteA new one to me.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to finding out something you didn't know before!
DeleteI've seen them, but I've not had them! I'm not to adventurous these days...
ReplyDelete