don't judge a fruit by its cover

[mindstalk]

Back in college, I remember friends J&L gushing about "dragon fruit", at least for the cool scaly looks. I also remember them gushing about cherimoya and I thought those were the same, but looks like I got confused. I didn't have either.

The other day I bought pre-sliced white dragon fruit from Hmart. It is the blandest thing I've ever had. Cooked egg white or unsalted matzoh have more interest. Celery and jicama are at least crunchy. This... it's not sweet, it has no flavor, the texture is soft and slightly slimy, it's moist but not juicy.

J and the internet tell me that magenta-inside is slightly better, and yellow outside + white inside is much better. But someone still went to the trouble of harvesting, shipping, and preparing *this*.

Maybe it's the fruit version of "Cut Me Own Throat Dibbler" sausages, a trap for the uninitiated. Or maybe it's meant to bulk out fruit salad.

Someone else on this: https://efficientasianman.boardingarea.com/2015/02/15/disappointing-fruit-ever-dragon-fruit/

[Edit: J says he may have referred to cherimoya as "the dragon fruit" based on appearance, not knowing yet that there was something else also called dragon fruit.]

[Edit: also maybe my fruit was unripe for shipping? Which wouldn't help.]

Comments

[thomasyan]

Agreed, normal, white-fleshed dragonfruit is very mild. The red-colored flesh is better, and the white flesh from the yellow fruit is tasty, but still pricey.

I do like cherimoya and its sweeter cousin, which both have a lot more flavor than dragonfruit.

Starfruit apparently can be very tasty, but in my experience, it is crunchy and juicy and otherwise not much besides a mild, tangy taste.

[brin_bellway]

I had one of the red-outside-white-inside dragonfruits once. It seemed fine, albeit not worth the high price: reminded me of the longan I'd tried at a Chinese buffet.

I haven't had jicama, but egg whites, plain matzot, and celery definitely also have flavours. Indeed, I dislike the flavour of celery.

To be fair, I tend to like my flavours mild. When I eat straight cheddar, it has to be served cold to suppress the flavour down to a reasonable level: room-temperature cheddar is overwhelming.

[citrakayah]

This is absolutely my experience eating dragon fruit.

Nice to know other people think it sucks.