How to Cut Dragon Fruit. All About Pitaya.

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The first time I set my eyes on this cactus-like fruit, it never crossed my mind that dragon fruit, also known as pitaya or pithaya was anywhere close to edible. This oval-shaped, juicy, climbing fruit plant grows up to a height of 6 meters. The fruit weighs between 7-12 ounce, and 9-16 cm long. The fruit’s external coating is a shade of magenta pink or yellow, highlighted with tiny, green leaves. The sweet, juicy, spongy yet crunchy flesh is either white, or pink in color, dotted with tiny black seeds. Every part of the dragon fruit is edible, apart from the skin. Which is why its important to learn how to cut dragon fruit in order to enjoy all this goodness.

It’s characteristic growth has had it win itself lots of tittles among them strawberry pear, queen of the night, night blooming cereus, belle of the night, and cinderella fruit, maybe owing to the fact that it’s flowers bloom for just one night annually. This single night that happens to be a bee-hive of all the pollination magic. Miraculously, despite the plants annual pollination, pitaya plant bears fruits 4-6 times a year. This makes it available all year with its peak being during the summer season and early fall.

Dragon fruits first found their way in Central America. With the help of explorers, it established itself in many other parts of the universe. today, pitaya’s popularity is highest in the Asian continent. As for it’s intriguing name, a legend tale has it that, during the age old years, dragons used to breath fire, and whenever they did so, a dragon fruit was the last thing to come out of the dragon’s mouth at the end of every flame. Every time a dragon was defeated in battle, it would be slaughtered and the dragon fruit collected and taken to the king as a sign of victory.

Dragon fruits exterior may look tough but on the contrary, it is as tender as a mango skin. Thus, cutting a dragon fruit is no rocket science. There are a variety of ways in which you can cut dragon fruit .

Place your pitaya on a chopping board and cut it into two starting from the top downwards to the stem. Your dragon fruit is ready for for consumption. Scoop it directly from the skin using a spoon.

On a chopping board, cut your dragon fruit into four quarters. Using your fingers, peel the skin of each of the four pieces away from the fruit’s flesh.

Depending on whichever method you choose to separate dragon fruit from the skin, you can go ahead and cut the flesh into smaller pieces, big slices or whatever shape and size you may please, to suit your presentation.

To enjoy this fruit to the maximum, consume it raw and chilled. You can also get a little extra and grill it then season it with some chillie powder. Besides being consumed whole, dragon fruit can also be blended together with other fruits to make a nutritious smoothie. You can also extract its juice. other uses of dragon fruit include, making jam, making syrup for pastries, making flavor, frozen deserts, yoghurt toppings, adding in oat meal, and adding in fruit salads.

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