Lauren and I were first exposed to dragon fruit during our 2007 trip to Vietnam. The fluorescent pink alien-looking fruits were an instant curiosity for us at the local markets. While scary on the outside, they are remarkably easy to eat. The leathery looking skin is quite soft, and once cut open you can eat all of the innards. The flesh is usually white, though sometimes bright red, and contains little black edible seeds like a kiwi. The taste is very clean and slightly sweet, with the seeds adding a nutty overtone. And as we learned in our cooking class, the best dragon fruit have the spikes poking straight out and bright skin.
Early on, one of our guesthouse proprietors wisely advised us to eat them chilled, and since then we’ve been hooked. Chilling a dragon fruit helps bring out its natural flavors, and is extra refreshing on the beach.
We have used dragon fruit as travel food (they don’t bruise and all you need is our handy spork for eating), in fruit shakes, and to anchor fruit plates. Variations we’ve enjoyed are eating them raw with a little lime juice, and mixing them with pineapple or mango in a fruit shake. Some may consider durian the “king of tropical fruits”, but in my mind the award goes to dragon fruit.
A basketful of dragon fruit
Lauren showing off the dragon fruit we packed for our Phuket to Lanta boat trip
Enjoying a dragon fruit shake in Luang Prabang
This is a cool blog! Definitely stay away from durians. They taste like a combination of gasoline and onions.