Dragon Fruit: How to Cut and Serve it

Dragon Fruit is a beautiful fun and exotic fruit. It's easy to cut, and in its purest form, it can be served in a few different ways.

What is Dragon Fruit?

• This delicately sweet fruit is an exotic cactus that was originally grown in Central America.
• Now Dragon fruit grows mostly in southern California and Florida, and is available in most grocery stores during their season, which is approximately June through September.
• The exterior color ranges from yellow to hot pink to red, with touches or yellow and green.
• The interior color of Dragon Fruit can be white or magenta — and sometimes somewhere in-between. Those that are magenta are the sweetest.

What does Dragon Fruit taste like?

Photo Credit for above magenta Dragon Fruit: melissas.com

Dragon Fruit tastes like a blend of a soft pear and kiwi, with a wonderful and subtle crunch from the tiny black seeds.

How to Cut and Eat Dragon Fruit

There are some foods that I think are better left untouched. Meaning, they’re not used in a recipe, but are simply eaten and admired just as they are.

Remove the Skin and Slice

1. Cut about ½ to 1 inch of each end, and then stand the fruit on the bottom base.
2. Carefully cut right between the flesh and the skin, moving the knife downwards and following the curve of the fruit. Continue this all the way around, until all of the skin is removed. (This is the same method I use to remove citrus skin when I want to slice it for a salad.)
3. Now you can slice it into wedges, rounds, cubes, a small dice, any which way you'd like.

Use Melon Baller

1. Slice a Dragon fruit in half lengthwise (root to tip).
2. Use a melon small baller to scoop out all of the flesh into little balls, or cut it into small cubes.
3. Add the fruit back into each half of the skin and serve. You can of course fill the "bowls" with all sorts of fruits for a fruit salad. (I like Dragon fruit with strawberries, kiwi and blueberries.)

A Play on Ice Cream

I love this idea for a fresh fruit dessert: Dragon Fruit "Ice Cream."

1. Treat the Dragon Fruit like you would a pint of ice cream. (I liken cutting off the top of the fruit to removing the lid from the carton.)
2. Then use an ice cream scoop to scoop the fruit. Serve it in a bowl, and to really make it fun, and to add more delicious flavor, drizzle it with Pomegranate Glaze. (Instructions are below.)

Pomegranate Glaze

1. Blend the pomegranate seeds in a blender.
2. Strain.
3. Cook the strained juice into a syrup.

(More detailed instructions are in the recipe card below.)

Other Exotic Fruits and Their Uses

Enjoy, and I hope you love experimenting with Dragon fruit.