My Dragon Fruit Juice at ION mall in Singapore
Oh, my new favorite scary-looking, but oh so tasty fruit of Asia: The Dragon Fruit (aka Pitaya or Pitahaya fruit.) Unlike its bold namesake, it won’t spit out fire if you try to eat it (though wouldn’t that be a neat party trick?) But it will give you a chockful of Vitamin C, fiber and antioxidants instead. Not bad. This red skinned, fleshy fruit with fantastical green, almost tentacle-like ‘fingers’ has a mild sweet taste and edible seeds. Slice one open and you will see one kind is exciting red, (ok, more like vibrant, gawk-worthy Miami Vice fuscia,) and the other is a creamy, ivory white, both interspersed with black seeds that are barely noticeable when eaten. If dragon fruit is eaten dried, it has 10x the amount of Vitamin C per gram than when fresh.
Diabetes Bonus: Dragon Fruit is known to be good for people with type 2 diabetes, as it helps control and reduce blood glucose levels. It’s recommended that you enjoy some dragon fruit (fresh, or dry if that’s what’s available,) with your meal if you can to help control blood sugar increase. That’s pretty neat.
How do I eat it? In Indonesia and Singapore, I eat it fresh, either sliced – without the skin – or blendered with ice to make a juice. I used the red kind (see picture), and when juiced, it’s so bright and fun colored that it makes beet juice look tame.
But in the US, where can you easily get Dragon Fruit? In New York at least, (and probably other cities,) I find it in Chinatown. However, Trader Joe’s has it in dried form in their dried fruit sectionfor a pretty reasonable price, so if you’re curious, I say check it out, and happy dragon tasting!