Health Benefits And Recipes Of Dragon Fruit (Pitaya).

What Is Dragon Fruit?

Dragon fruit is a food that grows on a climbing cactus called hylocereus, which you'll find in tropical regions around the world. The plant’s name comes from the Greek word "hyle," which means "woody," and the Latin word "cereus," which means "waxen."

On the outside, the fruit has the appearance of a hot pink or yellow bulb with spike-like green leaves shooting up like flames around it. Cut it open, and you'll find fleshy white stuff inside dotted with black seeds that are OK to eat.

This fruit comes in red- and yellow-skinned varieties. The cactus originally grew in southern Mexico and South and Central America. The French brought it to Southeast Asia in the early 19th century.

Dragon Fruit Nutrition

In one 6-ounce serving of dragon fruit cubes, you'll get:

Calories: 102
Fat: 0 grams
Protein: 2 grams
Carbohydrates: 22 grams
Fiber: 5 grams
Sugars: 13 grams

You'll also get these vitamins and minerals

Vitamin A: 100 international units (IU)
Vitamin C: 4 milligrams
Calcium: 31 milligrams
Iron: 0.1 milligram
Magnesium: 68 milligrams

Dragon Fruit Health Benefits

Dragon fruit has many potential health benefits, including:

It’s rich in antioxidants like flavonoids, phenolic acid, and betacyanin. These natural substances protect your cells from damage by free radicals -- molecules that can lead to diseases like cancer and premature aging.
It’s naturally fat-free and high in fiber. It makes for a good snack because it can help keep you full for longer between meals.
It may help lower your blood sugar. Researchers say this might be partly because it replaces damaged cells in your pancreas that make insulin, the hormone that helps your body break down sugar. But the studies were done on mice, not people. It's unclear just how much dragon fruit you'd have to eat to get these benefits.
It contains prebiotics, which are foods that feed the healthy bacteria called probiotics in your gut. Having more prebiotics in your system can improve the balance of good to bad bacteria in your intestines. Specifically, dragon fruit encourages the growth of the probiotics lactobacilli and bifidobacteria. In your gut, these and other helpful bacteria can kill disease-causing viruses and bacteria. They also help digest food.

It can strengthen your immune system. Dragon fruit is high in vitamin C and other antioxidants, which are good for your immune system.
It can boost your iron levels. Iron is important for moving oxygen through your body and giving you energy, and dragon fruit has iron. And the vitamin C in dragon fruit helps your body take in and use the iron.

Dragon Fruit Recipes

Apart from the following recipes, dragon fruit can be used in several versatile ways. One of the benefits of dragon fruit is that it pairs great with ice creams. Whether you’re using it as an integral flavouring ingredient in homemade ice cream or as an added burst of taste to plain old vanilla ice cream. It can also be used as an edible decorative piece to your main course, due to its eye-grabbing shape and colour. When sliced, it can be dropped into a beverage of your choice. You can enjoy the health benefits of dragon fruit by adding it to several desserts like cakes, mousse and even just fresh slices with macarons.

Since this fruit is power-packed with nutrients, vitamins and minerals, here are some healthy recipes that you can prepare at home.

1. Dragon Fruit Shake

Making yourself a dragon fruit shake every breakfast can be the right choice to welcome a healthy lifestyle.

Ingredients:

Banana cut in small pieces
1 full dragon fruit
1 glass of milk (250ml)
4 ½ glass of water
3 spoonfuls of sugar (Optional)
2 Cashews (Optional)

How to Prepare?

Step 1: Put the sliced banana and dragon fruit into the blender.
Step 2: Pour a glass of milk (250ml) into a blender and add 3 spoons of sugar. Blend till it turns smooth. (If it appears thick, add water or more milk).
Step 3: Pour it in a glass and add crushed cashew to give its final touches.

2. Dragon Fruit Salad

A fruit bowl reduces risks of heart diseases, type 2 diabetes and manages weight. On the contrary, the dragon fruit bowl consists of a mixture of other healthy fruits such as strawberries, bananas, watermelons, pineapple and black grapes.

Ingredients: