Sunday Strip: Revolutionary Acts -

Many hands make light work.

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These are dragon fruit.

Personally, I had no idea about how wonderful dragon fruit are or even that such a fruit existed until a friend recommended that we ought try one while grocery shopping in Maui a couple of years ago. It turns out that dragon fruit are pretty amazing, particularly the variety that is red on the inside.

So Jill bought one the other day at our local supermarket and the seeds were quite prominent. So she simply took a few seeds, rinsed them and popped them into the Aerogarden, which is a hydroponic gardening system - made for the “consumer” market. Two weeks later, we have little dragon fruit plants. What is kind of incredible is that the rotational growth of the baby cactus plants looks almost like the fruit.

About that “Aerogarden”: Jill bought her first hydroponic indoor gardening system years ago and she loves pulling it out in the early summer for fall and winter harvests. It often keeps us in fresh lettuce and basil. In fact, Jill made a salad from her “harvest” last night -pictured below.

These systems are excellent for apartment dwellers as well people like us, who like to garden year-round but don’t own a greenhouse. Jill and I have started various outdoor plants over the years, including getting early starts for the outdoor veggy garden. I like the Aerogarden because it doesn’t take up much space and quite attractive, but it is basically one of the only systems that we have used, so our opinion here doesn’t count for much. But there are now many on the market and these systems also make excellent Christmas gifts.

I guess this is all a long winded way to remind myself and readers that gardening doesn’t have to take a farm or even a backyard. It is a revolutionary act and something we can all participate in. BTW- children are in awe of indoor veggy gardening.

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But while I am on the subject of dragon fruit, this is most definitely a fun, albeit expensive (at least on the east coast) addition to add to a healthy diet.

The plant is native to southern Mexico and Central America and is now grown all over the world. Other names for dragon fruit include pitaya, pitahaya, and strawberry pear.

Dragon fruit tastes like is a mild mix of pear, kiwi and watermelon. The texture is similar to watermelon and it is sweet and juicy. There are a number of varieties, which produce differently colored fruits, which are white pulp with black seeds, red pulp with black seeds and yellow dragon fruit, which has yellow skin and white pulp with black seeds. I have been told the red is the most healthiest and I think the red variety has a bit more flavor.

Dragon fruit cactus need a subtropical climate and thrives in mild, humid environments. They are grown successfully in pots and make excellent house plants.

“Dragon fruit plants also produce some of the largest flowers in the world, often called “night-blooming cereus,” which bloom for one night only as gorgeous white flowers and fill the air with a unique tropical scent.”

Dragon fruit is considered a nutritionally dense food. High in fiber and antioxidants.

These are some of the main antioxidants contained in dragon fruit pulp (2):

• Betalains: Found in the pulp of red dragon fruit, these deep red pigments have been shown to protect “bad” LDL cholesterol from becoming oxidized or damaged (3).

• Hydroxycinnamates: This group of compounds has demonstrated anticancer activity in test-tube and animal studies ( 4).

• Flavonoids: This large, diverse group of antioxidants is linked to better brain health and a reduced risk of heart disease (5 6 ).

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