Friday, March 16, 2012

How to Train Your Dragonfruit

Yes, Virginia, there is something called a dragonfruit.

The dark time in my life when I did not know about the stunning deliciousness that is dragonfruit (I call this time BD) surely outweighs the glorious time that I HAVE known about it (the years know as AD) but I don't lament the days I went without. I just try to make up for it by eating as much as I possibly can now.

Now, tastiness of the fruit aside, I have to admit that the dragonfruit looks a little...uh...intimidating.


Looks almost like a cholla catcus after a really long night of partying. Ooh! Or the love child of a prickly pear and Cousin It. Or! or! or! Like an aloe vera plant that got dreads done on Spring Break. I am on simile FIRE!

But just like L.T. notes about the pineapple, it seems to be a long jump from "Hey, weird plant" to "What's that spiky red thing on the ends? And can I eat it?" I suppose our fruit hunting ancestors were a bit more hard up for tasty treats than we were.

Then again, who doesn't want to see what's inside nature's dreadlock bead?


(I kind of imagine this is what Babelfish might look like.)

Well, slice that sucker up and you'll be treated to the most delicious, seederific fruity flesh that you can possibly get your taste buds around:


It's like a party in my mouth and a bunch of seeds are invited! (Don't worry, the seeds are edible. No need to scoop around them.) It's divine, people. It's healthy and delicious and if I would have shied away from the weird little fruit stand I came across a few years ago just because it smelled like durian, I would have missed eating and falling in love with what is now my favorite (albeit a little hard to find) fruit EVER.

People are fruits. We're weird and intimidating and sometimes spiky and maybe a little stinky and hard to understand, but we're really good inside. Heck, sometimes we're even delicious! Thank goodness some people take the time to (metaphorically, of course) slice us up before passing us over. And hopefully we're the type of people to do that, too. In the meantime:



4 comments:

Adam Heine said...

Fair warning: Babies love dragonfruit, but those seeds are not digestible and they're darn sticky.

Was that too much information?

L. T. Host said...

I must know more!!! Why the different colored insides in that one picture? Do you eat just the inside, or also the skin/ rind/ peel??? Did you ever find one in San Diego and where?

PS-- I almost wrote my post about starfruit-- LOVE starfruit! It slices... into stars!! I mean, if we're talking about strange exotic fruits. I thought I'd mention it.

K. Marie Criddle said...

Adam - BWA HA HA! I've never fed my kid dragonfruit (at least not yet) so I have something to watch out for now. Gross! But thank you! But GWOSS!

L.T. - Oh my gosh, DF is AWESOME! Yes, it comes in magenta and white (both are delicious, I like white a little better) and I've been advised NOT to eat the rind, like a banana. I found it ONCE in SD and that was at the Asian market on Euclid and 6th in National City. Why only the Asian markets? I don't know, but I ate all they had!

And I LOVE starfruit...although I'm not quite sure exactly how to eat them. My last try was delicious but exhausting. :)

Keriann Greaney Martin said...

"Nature's dreadlock bead." Ha!

OMG, I must find this dragonfruit! I had a similar love affair with a loquat. It's like a kumquat but BETTER. Only had it one in Hawaii and I haven't found it again.