Dragon fruit is from a cactus that grows in tropical Central America, Hawaii, and Southeast Asia. It must be harvest time in October, because I recently encountered the fruit in a the Farmer’s Market in Kailua Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii. Dragon fruit is in the cereus family, the vine-like cactus with lovely night blooming blossoms.

This is the common variety, also called red pitaya. The interior is white or gray. There is also a varieties with a yellow skin and one that is red all the way through. The fruit ranges from about softball-size to grapefruit-size.

The pulp is soft and mildly sweet. The small seeds are crunched down like the seeds in kiwi. It is similar to prickly pear fruit. It’s usually eaten raw.

Eating the pulp reveals the striking red skin.

Dragon fruit is pleasant tasting, but not an exotic tropical flavor. The color and size make it more of an interesting novelty rather than a heavy-duty tropical flavor like mango or papaya.

Our food index page provides internet sources for this seasonal product.