My Dragonfruit Obsession and a Refreshing way to enjoy it in a Smoothie!

I remember when I first discovered the Dragonfruit, I had just graduated college, left the country for the first time, flew on a plane for the very first time and here I was in China, to learn more about my heritage and to see where my parents grew up. It was in a regular supermarket where I first laid eyes on this curious looking fireball fruit with my younger sister. It was mysterious, rare, tropical and dangerous looking, it was really love at first sight. It was dangerous yet I couldn't get my mind off of it. So many questions ran through my mind, "what does it taste like?", "how in the world do you open it?", "do I dare try this thing?", "is this really a fruit?", "can you REALLY eat this thing?".


I had so many expectations, first of all, I was shocked to find that it was white on the inside. I had never seen a white fruit before. When you first bite into it, you are left a little confused, it's juicy, but it's not very sweet like most fruits, the seeds are crunchy like a kiwi and it reminds me of a cross between a watermelon and a cucumber. When I discovered this fruit grew off of a cactus, it all made sense. Imagine if you were in a dessert or in the humid tropics and subtropics, you would crave something full of water, juice and something that isn't overwhelmingly sweet. When I was finally able to appreciate the flavor I was separated from this rare fruit.

I did not see this fruit again until a few years later when I moved to Florida to study medicine. This is when I was reunited this majestical fireball and introduced it to my boyfriend, Robert, aka bboy Fantum, who instantaneously was enamored with its exoticism as I had a few years prior.

In fact, he loved this enchanting fruit more than I did. We both fed off of each other's obsession and went searching for more at every supermarket and farmer's market we could and ate as many as we could before it was out of season. We even discovered different varieties of this fruit and found out that there were pink and yellow ones!

There are many ways you can enjoy this refreshingly mild fruit, you can eat it plain, mix it in a fruit salad or one of my favorite ways - in a smoothie! I feel that I can appreciate all of the flavors the best when it is homogenized into the form of a smoothie. I love eating it and I absolutely love drinking it. It reminds me of watermelon, I love eating it, but there are bitter parts when you get closer to the perimeter and base of the fruit, when you blend it all together, all parts taste equally delicious!

Here is our video with step by step instructions on how to make the smoothie:

The dragonfruit is incredibly juicy, all you need to do is to make sure that your fruit has chilled in the refrigerator or what I like to do is to keep some frozen so that when you mix it in your blender you get a very cool smoothie. We used a vitamix blender but feel free to use any blender you have!

Some health benefits of the dragonfruit:

• lowers cholesterol & blood pressure
• prevents cancer
• prescribed in Taiwan to treat diabetes
• a great source of omega-3 fatty acids (the crunchy seeds are full of healthy unsaturated fats)
• contains Vitamins A, B vitamins (thiamine, riboflavin, niacin) & C
• Iron, Calcium, Potassium, Phosphorous, Magnesium, Antioxidants & phytoalbumins
• It's a great source of electrolytes! How about this instead to replenish you after your workouts!