What to do with dragonfruit?

[Bliorg]

Hi all -

Was browsing the aisles at Costco this weekend and they apparently carry frozen chunk dragonfruit (!!!). The only time I've ever eaten fresh dragonfruit it was, well, disappointing. Don't know if it's typical, if what I had was unripe, under ripe, bad. My first inclination is to make wine of some sort with what Costco has. But what? Straight dragonfruit? Throw some in a dragon blood batch? Mixed with some other fruits?

So I ask those of you who've done anything with this before - what works? Is actual, ripe dragonfruit as blah as what I had from Giant? Or would dragonfruit wine hold up on its own? Better with something else that's compatible (raspberry, blueberry, etc.)? Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated...

...as would any recipe suggestions you may have.

Thanks,
Scott

 

[Bliorg]

Oooh - this is interesting: Processing and Development of Dragon Fruit Wine

 

[Rice_Guy]

A yellow dragon fruit from Ecuador: , , juice 1.066, pH 5.47, TA 0.04%

* you need an acid source which for me is add a background of acid blend lemon or rhubarb or gooseberry
* from memory dragon fruit was low in aromatics, this means a very clean mix like a dandelion recipe

 

[Bliorg]

Thanks Rice_Guy. How did the flavor come out? I'm wondering if this would be better in a dragon's blood type mix or as a single varietal?

 

[Bliorg]

Hmm... Why the exquisite beauty of the dragonfruit cruelly betrays its actual taste of nothingness

Maybe I'll stick to raspberry.

 

[Bliorg]

Okay, after a good bit of consideration, I've decided to throw a couple bags of the dragonfruit into a dragon blood variant. Figure one of two things will happen - it'll either add nothing, or it'll add something. I'm guessing a subtle something will come of it. But honestly a good chunk of the fun with this stuff is in the experimenting. So in it goes.

 

[Bliorg]

Okay, started today. Mix of berries, red dragonfruit (Pitaya from Costco, 3 pounds frozen) and yellow dragonfruit (again from Costco, but fresh fruit, 1.5 pounds). The red has a distinct flavor, but is very mild and not very sweet, very nice pink/red flesh. The yellow has white flesh, is very sweet, and tastes like pear, watermelon, or honey, depending on which member of my family you ask. I'm looking forward to how this one turns out.

2020 Bubba’s Blend by Scott, on Flickr