Dragon Fruit–Trying a New (to us) Fruit

My son is taking a Gourmet Foods class in high school.  (This is a nice break from his AP classes, plus, I know he won’t starve when he heads off to college.)   He has always liked eating (typical teenage boy with hollow legs), but he is now showing more interest in trying and plating new and different foods.  Today, he and his father picked up some groceries. Included among the typical stuff was a dragon fruit. My knowledge of dragon fruit was limited to “I think I may have heard of that before.”   My son and I both independently did a little research so as to know what to do with it. He was in charge; I just warned him that I would be taking photos. (He ended up taking much better photos than I which he plans to show to his Gourmet Foods teacher.)

After reading just a little on line (this is what I read) I was really quite excited!  On a screen, it looked like an interesting fruit.  Well, when dinner time came, the dragon fruit exploration began.  I don’t think that I have ever been so amazed after seeing a piece of fruit cut in half.  (I did see photos first, but sometimes you just like to see how reality matches up with what you find on-line.)  It was one of the coolest things I think I have seen in quite a while (at least with regard to food)! Really! This is a really cool looking piece of fruit!  Fortunately, it was also easy to scoop the flesh out of the skin. The seeds are edible (similar to a kiwi), so once the flesh was scooped out, any further preparation was just for show.

My son had fun plating the fruit, and then came the moment of truth–tasting it.

Drum roll…………….I didn’t like it.  The description I read said it tasted somewhat like a cross between a kiwi and pear.  Well, my bite didn’t taste like that. I can’t think of how to describe it, but, I just wasn’t a fan.  My daughter had the same reaction. My son thought it was ok but better with some extra sugar sprinkled on top.  I admit that the taste test was a bit of a let down. Could we have just been eating a less than stellar sample of dragon fruit?  Sure, but considering that a single piece of fruit cost nearly $5, perhaps it is just as well that we don’t have any burning desire to buy another.  For that same $5, though, we saw something really cool that we simply had not seen before. (As a bonus, my son did eat the whole thing and got to enjoy the nutritional benefits.)  Yay, fruit!

I look forward to seeing and eating the next food item my son checks out!  

P.S. I realize that this is not technically something “I made,” but anything that falls into the food prep category counts in my opinion. (My blog, my rules.)

Addendum: Since this was originally posted, my family has tried some other bizarre looking fruits. One of them was the rambutan. Check it out!