This week’s food first is Dragon Fruit.
Dragon Fruit
Dragon fruit is the product of a cactus, originally native to Mexico, but is now grown in most places with a warm climate (i.e. anywhere but the UK). Probably the most interesting dragon fruit cactus-related fact is that they flower only at night and are pollinated by moths and bats. There is doubtlessly a scientific term for this phenomenon, but, sadly (as is the case with much of science), it eludes me.
Would you believe me if said I didn’t get my Dragon Fruit from Morrison’s, but grew it at home? Robot never lies!
Apparently, the fruit looks like a dragon – but, having never seen an actual dragon, I cannot confirm or deny if this is the case. Sadly, the only dragons in history perished many years ago: St. George clobbered one with a long, pointy implement and Little Puff used his only life falling down a mine shaft or into a fire or something. Whilst, Elliot – Pete’s Dragon from the imaginatively titled Pete’s Dragon – turned invisible, subsequently forgot how to re-visible himself and was never seen again. All other dragons are fictitious.
The upshot of this is that we all just have to trust that it looks like a dragon. That said, it’s probably not the significant leap of faith I’m making it out to be…
Dragon Fruit
As fruit rarely comes with instructions, I did a quick internet search to see what I needed to do with it. Could I eat it raw? Would consuming the peel have a laxative effect? Which is the top? Which is the bottom? You know, the basic important questions… Seemingly, all I needed to do was chop it in half, spoon out the flesh and then eat it. Simple. I could not find a definitive answer anywhere as to the potential dangers of eating the peel, so I decided to go with a ‘No’ on that one.
I sliced the dragon fruit in half – with a knife, as my lance was in my other pants – revealing the watery white flesh flecked with hundreds of small, black seeds. It had the look of an anaemic kiwi fruit. I popped a spoonful of the stuff into my mouth… Big flavours these were not – In fact, I’m not even sure if it had any flavour at all – Unless, bland is a flavour.
Sliced Dragon Fruit
I guess dragon fruit is a splendid example of why you should never judge a book by its cover. Evolution* has seemingly put all its efforts into making the fruit look attractive, but lost interest by the time it got around to deciding what to do with the inner bits. The result is an off-white, watery flesh, polka-dotted with scores of seeds. There is very little flavour – perhaps a hint of melon, at best.
* This is, of course, if you believe in evolution (and then believe all evolution should be angled towards pleasing the taste buds of humanity).
Dragon Fruit – Blandiose!
Before you boycott dragon fruit for life solely on the strength of my comprehensive taste review, you might want to bear in mind that with the blandness comes a raft of nutritional benefits. According to literature (if random crap found on those “16.5 surprising uses for X – you simply won’t believe number 7” blogs on the internet can be classed as literature), the fruit is high in vitamins (C, B1-3), minerals (iron, phosphorous, calcium) and fibre, whilst being low in calories, fat and cholesterol (the evil sort). It is also high in anti-oxidants – which is great for all your anti-oxidanting needs like a youthfully-tight face skin.
The apparent sheer brilliance of dragon fruit has even caused one foody blogster to label it “so good it should be forbidden.” Um… Yes, that makes sense. Thanks.
Using Dragon Fruit dice when playing Monopoly makes you unbeatable!
So, after a great deal of research, lab testing and prodding fruit with a fork, I bring you my very own: –
7 Uses for a Dragon Fruit – Number 4 will truly blow your mind…
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Eat it.
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Don’t eat it.
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Carefully make various incisions and pretend you are conducting a dragon autopsy.
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Chop into cubes and place in frying pan. Heat until golden brown, then add gelignite. Kaboom!
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Liquidize the flesh and make a drink. Drink the drink.
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Er… Temporary door stop.
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Yes, 7 uses.
Click here for 34 reasons you’ll end up married to a Smurf and here to discover which Brittas Empire character you are.
And so ends the inaugural visit to my food firsts adventure of 2015. Was it worth it?
If you have any suggestions for more exciting things to shove in my face, please let me know – I clearly need some help!
See you next time I find a new exotic fruit…
Fifty-Two Weeks of Filling My Cheeks 