When travelling in exotic countries, the food and fruit is often the highlight. But, quite often, what you see can invariably be misleading. Take the Dragon Fruit as an example. The skin is bright pink in colour with green petal like stalks, for want of a better word. I had no idea what to expect when I first ate this fruit. Compared to other fruit, this one is quite easy to prepare. When it is slightly soft when you squeeze it, use a sharp knife and cut it in half from end to end. The version I had today had a white flesh though you can also get a red version. You can now peal the skin using the knife, or do what I did and just used a spoon to scoop it out. The skin itself is not edible so just make sure it is all removed. Then cut it up into cubes. I find it tastes best if it is chilled first.
The taste is almost sweet though it doesn’t contain many calories. The small black seeds are slightly crunchy and remind me of kiwi fruit. These are excellent source of fibre. It is a bit like eating a soft melon though with a higher water content. But the taste is quite bland. I think it would be better mixed with other fruit in a salad or made into a drink. The fruit contains large amounts of Potassium and Calcium and also Vitamin C. They are grown all over Thailand, though more commonly in Chantaburi. The main season is May to October though you can buy at other times. They are not native to Thailand and you can buy all around the world. But, they are pretty cheap here. The ones I bought in the supermarket cost me 29 baht a kilo. So, these two cost me 12 baht each which is about 35 Cents. It belongs to the Cactus family and apparently is fairly easy to grow yourself from the seeds. I might give that a go and tell you about it later if I have any success.
Name in Thai: แก้วมังกร (gaew mang-gorn)
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