I was talking to P some time ago, he had just got back from a biking trip across Vietnam. P kept talking about how much he enjoyed eating fresh dragonfruit or pitaya. I had never heard of such a fruit and wasn’t sure how it should look. All I can imagine was something with scales maybe? Then I saw pictures of the fruits and was immediately intrigued by how beautiful and strange it looked. There are three types of dragonfruit - red flesh, red fruit with white flesh and yellow fruit with white flesh.

The photo above of dragonfruit farm taken by tk yeoh of flickr. Notice how the fruits are wrapped in bags. Possibly to protect them from birds, bats, and other natural elements. Dragonfruit farming has been very popular in Asia, from the Philippines to Malaysia. They seem to grow pretty easy and are also grown in San Diego greenhouses. The plants are also available for purchase from Florida. Some day I like to make a trip to these farm and see the real fruit tree. Preferably at harvesting time!

On my last grocery shopping trip to Trader Joe’s, I saw some dried dragonfruit packaged in Thailand. I bought several packages at $2 each. The dried fruit is deep red to purple, with little black seeds that look like sesame seeds. They taste nutty and tart at the same time. I can also make dragonfruit tea with them. The water turns into a very pretty bright pink color.

Photo from Kluang Farms Malaysia.

There is even dragonfruit wine made in Malaysia. For these Kluang wine, the farm uses the red fruit with red flesh. The wines are exported to Singapore, Hong Kong, the Middle East and Europe. They should bring some to the U.S. market. I would love to try this, it’s probably really healthy too. Hey, Trader Joe’s global buyers, if you are reading this - please bring some to the states.

Photo from Kluang Farms Malaysia.

The flowers look very much like the Queen of the Night flower. The flower that is known to bloom only for the night and dies by morning. Which is what the dragonfruit’s flower does as well. And both plants are propagated by cuttings too.

Ian Maguire of the University of Florida also has some awesome dragon fruit pictures located here. His collection of other tropical fruits are just as vast too. Pine Island Nursery also has a great photo gallery. Gallery is full of different varieties of dragonfruits. This picture below is taken from Mr. William Chow’s collection. He is from Southern California and has much success with growing this rare fruit. He also has a very useful book available for purchase as well. You can go to his website www.eschertile.com/garden/foto.htm to purchase it - Beginner’s Guide to Growing Dragon Fruit in the Home Garden.

Photo by William Chow.