Dragon fruit - so beautiful to look at. Part of your five-a-day

We're all supposed to eat five a day, right?  The government "advises" us that it's the healthy way to live.

As a vegan, I tend to think I'd be hard pressed to avoid eating five a day, the same goes for vegetarians too, and anyone who follows a balanced diet.  We must remember to always have at least five different varieties, though, not, for example, three apples and two oranges - that only counts as two!  It's always fun to expand upon the normal range of foods, though, isn't it?

So, when I saw a dragon fruit marked down in price from £1.49 to 10p, I couldn't resist.  It looked such a glorious pinky red colour, and the small "scales" probably suggested the name dragon fruit.  I've never bought one before, nor tasted one - I'm afraid that to pay so much for one piece of fruit seems a little excessive to me.

Since it's a new fruit to my repertoire, I looked on the internet to see just what one is, and how to eat it - is that vivid skin edible, or is it so colourful as a warning?

I found an article by D Schmidt, at About.com:Thai food, from which I learned that it's the fruit of a cactus.  To test for ripeness, you hold the fruit in your hand and squeeze gently, a bit like testing an avocado - they're the same sort of size, too.  Sadly, however, the pink skin is not going to grace my plate, unless it's as a container for the diced flesh, we're told to scrape off any residual traces of pink from the flesh:( 

Talking of the flesh, it's a great disappointment when you cut it open, as the flesh is a dirty off-white, and there are thousands of tiny black seeds, a bit like poppy seeds stuck in white blacmange!  The smell is fresh and slightly citrussy, sort of like a kiwi fruit.

You can remove the flesh from the skin in the same way as you could an avocado, simply run a large dessert spoon around between the skin and the flesh, and it will scoop out easily.

I diced the flesh, which was easy, as it's very soft.  Sadly, despite its beauty, the fruit lacks flavour, so I incorporated it into my breakfast fruit smoothie, along with some strawberries, a peach and some linseeds and a couple of cubes of crystallised ginger.

Will I buy another one?  Certainly not at full price, no, but if well reduced, then yes, as the variety and amounts of minerals etc all add variety to my diet:-)