Dragon fruit is one of the most aesthetically pleasing fruit ever to cross our table and it seems to be pretty good for you.
But what does dragon fruit really taste like?
Well, before you rush out to buy dragon fruit for your fruit salad, let’s find out.
What’s The Taste Of Dragon Fruit?
Dragon fruit tastes very slightly sweet with a touch of kiwi fruit or pear about it.
However, this is only true if you’re eating dragon fruit that has already ripened.
If not? Underripe dragon fruit has next to no taste at all. It’s not unpleasant just flavorless.
How Can You Tell When Dragon Fruit Is Ready To Eat?
There are several varieties of dragon fruit but the most common, by far, in the United States has pink or purple skin.
This dragon fruit is generally picked, packaged and transported when it’s under-ripe. This is because the dragon fruit is less likely to bruise or spoil than a ripe dragon fruit.
Ripe dragon fruits tend to be heavier than unripe dragon fruit because they’re full of juice in the center. The wings will also have dried out on the dragon fruit skin and if you squeeze a little – it will feel like a ripe avocado.
Both red dragon fruit and white flesh dragon fruit have a similar feel when ripe.
How Do You Prepare Dragon Fruit?
First, cut dragon fruit in half and then slice the white flesh (or pink, in some cases).
Then just eat it like tiny slices of watermelon.
If you want to make a dragon fruit smoothie then you should remove the rind but leave the tiny black seeds as they’re 100% edible and tasty.
The dragon fruit’s skin is not edible and even if you have a rarer yellow skin on your fruit, don’t eat it.
How Do You Eat Dragon Fruit?
You can appreciate the dragon fruit’s flavor best by eating it raw, no matter which of the dragon fruit varieties you might have.
It works well in smoothies and in other drinks too (dragon fruit margarita anyone?) and in a fruity ice cream or fruits salad with other tropical fruit such as strawberry pear.
Is Dragon Fruit Healthy?
We must stress at this point that we are not medical professional or nutritionists.
If you want to know if there are health benefits to eating anything you should talk to your doctor rather than relying on Internet information.
However, we can share that there is plenty of Vitamin C and Vitamin B in dragon fruit.
As you probably already know Vitamin B is essential for the overall functioning of our bodies and Vitamin C is needed to stop us from developing scurvy (which can be fatal).
The tiny black edible seeds are full of fiber and the flesh has some fiber too. They also say that the seeds have “prebiotic” benefits.
Is Yellow Dragon Fruit Different?
Yes. Not only do they look different in color but the yellow-skinned variety of the fruit has a much more sweet taste than the red version.
You will find that it has an aroma akin to mangosteen too thanks to all the extra sugar inside. They say it has more antioxidants and is better for the immune system too.