Recently at my local Shop-Rite grocery, they had something new in the fruit section--"yellow pitaya." I bought it and brought it back home before I even knew what I was dealing with. After a bit of online research I came to learn that it was a type of cactus fruit, like a dragon fruit. I'd had another kind of dragon fruit years ago, but I'd neglected to post about it. Anyway, I then bought and retried the previous dragon fruit again, and had the yellow pitaya one for the first time.
As it turns out, the common names for the various types of cactus fruit are a bit confusing. "Pitaya," "pitahaya," and "dragon fruit" are sometimes used interchangeably for different species. So in this case I'll mention the more definitive, scientific names. The "yellow pitaya" I had is Hylocereus megalanthus, which is native to several countries in South America, such as Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Columbia, and Ecuador. It's characterized by its yellow outer rind and whitish inner pulp. It's also one of the very few cacti that is self-pollinating. The other one I had is Hylocereus undatus, which has a pinkish/red exterior, and a whitish inner pulp. This is the most common of the commercially available dragon fruits. Its origin point is unknown, except for being from somewhere in the Americas. In addition to their birthplaces, dragon fruit is now cultivated in other areas around the world with suitable climates and soil, such as Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, Florida, and Australia. The "dragon" part of the common name only dates back to 1993, and is due to the fruits' leathery, scaly, spiky outer rind, or roughly akin to traditional dragon skin. Alternate monikers for this fruit are "strawberry pear," and, apparently, the oddly generic "thang."
The cactus plant has a few unusual properties. (I'll also include that acceptable plurals for cactus are both "cacti," and "cactuses," so you'll probably see both.) For starters, this plant wasn't originally found in Europe, most of Asia, and Australia (or Antarctica, but that probably goes without saying!). It was just native to the Americas, essentially, and one species which grew in parts of Africa, Madagascar, and Sri Lanka. Moving on, cacti are only pollinated by insects, birds, and bats--none are pollinated by wind. Their distinctive spines are different from thorns, botanically, as spines are modified leaves, while thorns are modified branches. Finally, a couple of species produce a psychoactive drug, mescaline. I have consumed cactuses in other forms. See my February 16, 2013 post for info on the cactus "pads," and prickly pear fruit, and the August 11, 2018 post about "cactus water."
Like so many of the foods and beverages I post about, the various species of dragon fruit are thought to be beneficial to consumers. The fruits themselves contain B vitamins, Vitamin C, magnesium, antioxidants, polyphenols, carotenoids, betacyanins, and dietary fiber. Also iron, which is rare for a fruit. So nutritionally they're not a bad choice at all. However, as usual, some folks credit them for being effective fighters against cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, asthma, prostate problems, eye problems, and dull, un-shiny hair. Some/most of these assertions aren't conclusively, scientifically proven at this point. And, some people categorize dragon fruit as being a "superfood"--see my post on May 1, 2014 for more details on that rather nebulous term.
1) Dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus): This one looked bizarre and even menacing from the outside. Its rind was scaly, with (cut down?) spikes, and it kind of resembled a grenade in size and shape. The outer skin was reddish-pink, and the interior pulp was whitish, with many tiny black (edible) seeds. Eating it was simple--I just cut it in half, and then scooped out the inner pulp with a spoon, using the inedible rind as a sort of bowl. The texture was rather akin to a watermelon, I thought. The taste was just okay. Somewhat sweet, but a bit bland. So not great, but not terrible, either.
2) Yellow pitaya (Hylocereus megalanthus): This one looked very similar to its cousin, only the outer rind color was yellow, not shockingly. The size and shape was about the same, too, as was the inner whitish pulp, complete with dozens of small black seeds. I ate this in the same way. The texture was about the same as well. However, in one key area the yellow pitaya was different from the dragon fruit--its flavor was much better. Sweeter, and very tasty.
Therefore, I really enjoyed the yellow pitaya, and would strongly recommend it. The dragon fruit was kind of "meh,"--maybe a tepid recommendation, for folks who want to try something different. I should mention that both were expensive, being $6.00 for the single fruit.
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