Sweet dragon

A couple of months ago, Diane and Todd of White on Rice Couple posted about the beautiful dragonfruit flowering in their garden. I commented that I had never tasted dragonfruit. Lo and behold, a sample appeared in the mail! How sweet is that?

Dragonfruit is also called pitaya and is native to the Americas, and is also grown in Southeast Asia. It's a kind of cactus that is easily cultivated in tropical climes. (The photo at right is courtesy of Nhã Lê Hoàn via Wikipedia.)

The slightly translucent flesh of the dragonfruit is sweet and smooth, like a perfectly ripened honeydew melon. It's really pretty to look at up close, too. (Click on the photo below to see what I mean.)
The taste is a bit pear-like, very mild. The seeds are teeny-tiny and easily crunched. They don't detract from the eating at all. I'm reminded a bit of fig seeds. Supposedly they're also like the seeds of kiwi, which I can't eat. (If you're going to have a food allergy, it's good to have a bizarre one that's not hard to accommodate.)

I polished off half right away, and saved the other half for Mom to try. She was suspicious of the strange fruit sent by strangers (to her) but gamely opened up, and pronounced it good.
Thanks, Todd and Diane, for expanding our life lists of flavors!