Pitaya

As a dragon fruit, also known as pitahaya or pitaya, refers to the fruit of certain products originating in Central America Hylocereus and Selenicereus - species of the cactus family. The main producing countries are Nicaragua, the People's Republic of China, Vietnam and Israel.

Species

This uses the following types of cactus fruits:

• Hylocereus undatus with white flesh and pink shell
• Hylocereus Monacanthus with red flesh and pink shell
• Selenicereus megalanthus with white flesh and yellow skin

In addition, a fruit is traded, which is similar in shape to the yellow pitahaya, but has a red shell and a pink flesh.

Properties

The flesh of dragon fruit contains many small black seeds. Their flavor is lost when heated.

The outer color is red or yellow. Yellow pitahaya have a higher price because this fruit is not very often grown. The red pitahaya have either a white or red flesh. Red-fleshed pitahaya, however, are more difficult to grow and therefore less readily available, the taste of red meat fruit is more intense than that of the white-fleshed.

In their homeland, the fruit is mainly used for decorating buffets. For the preparation of dragon fruits can be cut and scooped out ( roughly analogous to the Kiwi); with ripe fruit, the shell can be removed ( roughly analogous to orange ).

Dragon fruits are pressure sensitive and therefore more difficult to transport. Supplies reach Germany from Central America from July to December and from Vietnam from January to June. By air all year round fruits from Thailand are imported.

Their taste resembles coarse kiwi, but is not so intense. Inside, no fibers are present.

Dragon fruits contain about 90 % water and contain a lot of iron, calcium and phosphorus. The nutritional value is 210 kJ per 100 g (50 kcal/100g ). It contains the vitamins B, C and E.