What is a Dragon Fruit and What are Its Health Benefits(2020)? Get to Figure Out the Resplendence of Dragon Fruit and How to Enjoy its Many Amazing Splendors.

• Scoop Out and Enjoy Raw – Cut the dragon fruit into half, then scoop out the flesh using a spoon and consume it fresh. You can even pour a little honey on it and eat during the mid-day hunger pangs. But avoid eating the outer shell as it’s not an edible part of this fruit.
• In Salad – Peel the outer layer and slice the inner flesh as per your preference, then toss the pieces with other fruits and add little chat masala to get a flavorful fruit salad. You can also mix it with muesli along with nuts, bananas, and seeds.
• Grill and Chill – Grilled dragon fruit tastes great and you need 1 dragon fruit (peeled and cubed), 1 pineapple (peeled and cubed), 1 tsp red chili powder, oil for brushing, and salt to taste for making this sweet and spicy treat. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Skew alternate pieces of pineapple and dragon fruit on a skewer, brush with little oil, and grill for 10 minutes before serving.
• Make a Smoothie – You can also prepare a filling and refreshing smoothie with dragon fruit. The sweet flavor of this fruit combines well with fruits like pineapple, kiwi, strawberries, oranges, and banana to make wonderful smoothies.
• Frozen Dragon Fruit – You can freeze dragon fruit to prepare yummy Popsicle or refreshing sorbet. Simply take out the juice with a juicer (you can mix other fruit juices as well) and pour it into molds before freezing. You can also add jaggery or honey to enhance sweetness.

• Sour Pitayas – Found mainly in arid areas of America, this fruit has a juicier flesh and a refreshing and stronger taste.
• White Fleshed Dragon Fruit – Most popular and commonly found Dragon fruit with pink skin and white flesh.
• Red Fleshed Dragon Fruit – Fruit skin is of red color with red color flesh inside the fruit.
• Yellow Dragon Fruit – Yellow skinned dragon fruit with white flesh inside.

Health Benefits:

• A 350 gm serving of dragon fruit contains 102 calories, 0 gm fat, 22 gm carbohydrate, 2 gm protein, 13 gm sugar, and 5 gm fiber. Moreover, this serving would also contain vitamins and minerals like Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Iron, and Magnesium.


• The low amount of cholesterol, high fiber, and zero fat make it a perfect fruit for being happy and healthy as it digests quickly, satiates your sweet tooth, and helps maintain weight.


• Dragon fruit has antioxidants like phenolic acid, flavonoids, and betacyanin which fights with free radicals responsible for premature aging and diseases like cancer.


• It also contains prebiotics which is food for probiotics, the healthy bacteria in your gut. The healthy or good bacteria fight the bad and disease-causing bacteria in your stomach and improve digestion.


• A high concentration of Vitamin C present in the fruit improves your immunity and helps to fight against diseases and the iron present in it improves the oxygen circulation, thus boosting the energy levels.

Recipe:

• Firstly, boil milk in a pan, add the cornflour and GMS powder in ¼ cup milk in a separate cup and add this mixture slowly into the boiling milk.
• Let it simmer on low heat for 7-8 minutes and keep stirring continuously to avoid the mixture sticking to the bottom of the pan.
• Now turn off the flame, cover the pan with a thin cloth, and let the mixture cool down to room temperature.
• Now transfer the mixture to an airtight container and keep it in the freezer overnight (10-12) hours.
• Once our base is frozen and ready, we’ll make the dragon fruit puree. For this, peel off the dragon fruit, chop the fruit and churn in a mixer to make a puree.
• Take this puree in a pan, add 1 tsp sugar, and heat on low flame for 3-4 minutes so that the sugar is mixed well in the mixture.
• Once the puree is ready, allow it to cool. Now take the frozen base into a big vessel, add the dragon fruit puree and churn with a hand blender for 8-10 min.
• Transfer the mixture to an airtight container and freeze for about 12-13 hours.
• Once the ice-cream is frozen well, take out from the freezer and scoop out to serve chilled.

Recipe:

• Take the sugar in a mixer and grind it to a fine powder.
• Now add the curd and dragon fruit pieces into the mixer.
• Also, add the chilled milk and ice cubes, and blend well to prepare lassi.
• Pour the dragon fruit lassi into glasses and serve this refreshing and tasty lassi.

Recipe:

• Banana-Dragon fruit smoothie is filled with calcium and vitamin C, to prepare it, peel and chop the ripe banana, and cut the dragon fruit into half, and peel out the pulp of one half with a spoon.
• Add the banana pieces and dragon fruit pieces in a mixer jar; pour the milk and honey as well and then blend this mixture in the mixer for a few minutes until you get a uniform mixture.
• Now pour the dragon fruit smoothie in tall glasses, decorate with pieces of Dragon Fruit, and serve chilled.

Recipe:

• To start the preparation, add milk, ice-cream, and roughly chopped dragon fruit in a mixer.
• Blend them well until you get a smooth and uniform texture.
• Soak the chia seeds in water for about 10 minutes, then drain the water and transfer little amounts into serving glasses.
• Layer the chia seeds with dragon fruit chunks and finally pour the shake into the glasses before serving.
• Don’t forget to put a spoon in the serving glass while serving.

Recipe:

• Add milk to a pan and bring it to a boil, then add the rice flour and keep stirring continuously and slowly for 2-3 minutes on medium flame.
• Now add sugar, stir well, and lower the flame.
• Blend the dragon fruit cubes in a mixer and transfer this paste into the milk pan.
• Stir it a few times and then let it cook until the mixture thickens.
• Finally, add kewra water and give a good stir before taking out in serving dishes.
• Garnish with dry fruits and serve hot or chilled as per your liking.

Recipe:

• Add lime wedges and mint leaves in a glass, add roughly cut dragon fruits (save few pieces for garnishing).
• Crush the mint leaves and lime wedges using a muddle to release lime juice and mint oil.
• Now add sugar syrup and fill the glass with ice.
• Pour the rum slowly over the ice so that the rum also cools while it goes down through the ice cubes.
• Finally, fill the glass with club soda and stir.
• Taste for sugar and add more syrup if required, garnish with pieces of dragon fruit and lime wedges, and serve this chilled Dragon Fruit Mojito.

Side Effects of Dragon Fruits:

• Excess of dietary fiber is not good for the stomach – It’s a known fact that dietary fibers are beneficial in keeping the digestive system healthy because it acts as a natural laxative to improve our bowel movement and aids the process of smooth elimination of stool from our body. Thus, eating dragon fruit helps in problems like indigestion, abdominal pain, bloating and flatulence, etc. However, dietary fibers also absorb excess water from our body thus taking dietary fibers in abundance without consuming enough water can pose a risk for dehydration in our body which in turn can cause different health issues such as muscle cramps, greater chances of constipation, and indigestion, etc.
• Excess amounts of antioxidants are bad – As mentioned earlier, Dragon Fruit is full of Vitamin C and compounds with antioxidants like carotenoids, polyphenols, and phytonutrients, etc. that have many benefits. These antioxidants fight with the free radicals present in the body which cause damage to our tissues, thus minimize the risk of various cancers. Moreover, the antioxidants also help eliminate different toxins from kidneys and liver and help them to work efficiently. But an extra amount of antioxidants in the body for a longer period may cause significant damage to our health. Higher intake of antioxidants increases the chances of cancer and hemorrhagic stroke as the antioxidants in abundance start causing oxidative damage to the healthy cells along with free radicals.
• May cause allergic reactions – Although dragon fruit has several health benefits due to the presence of minerals, vitamins, dietary fibers, and antioxidants, etc, few people may be allergic to dragon fruit and they should avoid eating dragon fruit in any form. The common allergies caused by Dragon Fruit are – itchy throat, burning sensation in the throat, swollen tongue and lips, etc.
• Other possible side-effects are – It may decrease the blood sugar levels of diabetic patients who are on medication to a dangerously low level, may cause hypotension, weight gain, and should be taken only after consulting your doctor during pregnancy.