A few years ago I was visiting Thailand, among other places, and I visited one of the outdoor marketplaces. My intention was to find fruits that I had never tried, purchase some, bring them back to my hotel to consume them. My expedition was fruitful. At one end of the continuum was the durian fruit, which is barely even edible if not prepared right. As a matter of fact, the smell is so bad that it is not unusual to see the following sign on hotel lobby walls:
I will spare you the details of how it looked, its consistency and flavor. Locals would surely laugh if they saw me eating it raw and unprepared. Don’t do it.
On the other end of the continuum was the almost too-good-to-be-true, dragon fruit. Here’s what it looks like on the stand:
You can clearly see the look of envy on the other fruits
Imagine, if you will, a kiwi on steroids. The dragon fruit is much larger than a kiwi, and it peels as easily as a banana. There is no pit to worry about, and the seeds are small and greatly enhance its consistency. The fresh ones I had in Thailand were mildly sweet and the flesh was somewhat firm and almost crunchy. Eating it, for the first time, was so heavenly that I felt like I was in food nirvana. Here’s what they look like on the inside (photo found online):
There is also a red-fleshed variety. A coworker recently brought a dragon fruit to work for me. I had previously told him about them and his local Winco grocery store had started carrying them. He fell in love with them right away and bought a bunch for his family. The ones he buys are inferior. They are not fresh. The flesh is not as firm as it should be, nor is it nearly as sweet as it should be. One can see wrinkles forming on the outside. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Even an inferior dragon fruit is superior to the vast majority of other fruits. In fact, I’m thinking about starting a religion based on the dragon fruit. Of course, I would be the high priest. I haven’t worked out the details yet. Suggestions are welcome.
