he dragon fruit, also known as a pitaya is a delicious tropical fruit with a lot of nutrients. The fruit has become quite popular over the last few years. The easiest way to eat your dragon fruit is to simply cut it open and spoon it out, however there are multiple ways to eat or prepare your dragon fruit. Want to know what the options are and if you can cook with dragon fruit? Then continue reading!
Can you cook dragon fruit?
You can definitely cook with dragon fruit, but it is not necessary. The fruit is usually being eaten raw to keep the texture and sweet taste that comes with the fruit. However lately it is more common to cook with dragon fruit and use it in various dishes.
How to prepare dragon fruit for cooking?
Dragon fruit can be eaten in various ways, the fruit can be used in a smoothie, dessert or yogurt bowl. But the fruit can also be used in dishes that have to be cooked. Check out this
blog for more information on how to eat dragon fruit.
There are a few important steps that have to be done before the fruit can be incorporated in your dish. which are as following:
- Wash the Dragon fruit thoroughly to remove any dirt.
- Make a small, not too deep cut in the dragon fruit so that you can peel the skin from the flesh. (another alternative is to cut the fruit open and spoon the flesh out)
- After the peeling the fruit is ready for dicing to your liking
How to cook with dragon fruit
There are multiple cooking techniques for dragon fruit. You can cook, grill or bake with the fruit which makes the fruit suitable for multiple dishes. The most common dishes where the dragon fruit is used in requires blending, pureeing or baking the dragon fruit.
Bake with your Pitaya
You can use your red or yellow fleshed dragon fruit as a natural food colorer and the fruit itself can give the dish a natural sweet tropical flavor. Therefore you can use it in muffins, pancakes or cookies. It is suitable for multiple dishes therefore be not afraid to experiment.
Grill your Pitaya
Did you know you can also grill your pitaya? It is a great way to keep the natural sweetness and add a smokey flavor to it. Do not overcook the dragon fruit as it can have a big influence on the taste and texture of the dragon fruit. Grill the pitaya until grill marks appear, this way the Pitaya will be perfect.
How to cook Dragon fruit skin
Did you know that it is possible to eat dragon fruit skin? It is possible to eat it raw however it is extremely important to excessively clean the skin if you are going to eat it raw. Another possibility is to deep fry the peel. Deep fried dragon fruit peel is a perfect combination with rice and other fruits like banana and corn. You can also easily make tea with the peel. You simply do this by cutting the skin in pieces and let it dry out. Once the pieces have dried out, hot water can be added and there it is your self made dragon fruit peel tea which is healthy, delicious and has optimized the use of the whole dragon fruit and minimized waste.
