Start by checking it is ripe
Cutting technique cannot rescue an unripe dragon fruit, so check before you start. A ripe fruit yields slightly under gentle thumb pressure, in the way a ripe avocado does. The skin should be evenly and brightly coloured, and the leathery "wings" or bracts along the outside should be starting to dry and brown at their tips. If the fruit is rock hard and the wings are stiff and bright green, it was picked early. Leave it on the counter for two to four days and it will soften, though it will never gain much more sweetness — dragon fruit does not continue to build sugar after picking the way a banana does.
Avoid fruit with large soft brown patches, splits in the skin or shrivelled, blackened wings. Those are past ripe rather than under.
The standard method: halve and scoop
This is the fastest way and the one to use for eating straight away.
- Rinse the outside of the fruit and pat it dry.
- Sit it on a board and slice it cleanly in half lengthways. The flesh is soft, so very little pressure is needed.
- Take a large spoon and run it around the inside edge, between the flesh and the skin. The flesh releases in one piece almost immediately — the skin does not cling the way a mango's does.
- Lift the whole half out and put it flesh-side down on the board.
- Slice into cubes or wedges.
If you are eating it immediately and informally, stop after step three and simply eat it out of the skin half with a spoon, like a kiwi.
The peel method, for neat cubes
Better when appearance matters, for a fruit platter or a salad.
- Cut a thin slice off the top and the bottom so the fruit stands flat and stable.
- Stand it upright and run a knife down the sides, following the curve, to take the skin off in strips. You can also get a finger under a cut edge and simply peel the skin away — it is thin and comes off easily on a ripe fruit.
- You now have a bare cylinder of flesh. Slice it into rounds, then cut the rounds into cubes or batons.
Presentation cuts
- Wedges in the skin: quarter the fruit lengthways and leave the skin on as a handle. The easiest way to serve it to children, and to a crowd.
- Scored halves: halve the fruit, then cut a grid into the flesh without going through the skin. Push up from underneath and the cubes fan out.
- Melon balls: a small melon baller works beautifully on the soft flesh and makes the dramatic version for a fruit salad.
- Fruit bowl: scoop out the flesh, cube it, mix with other fruit and pile it back into the empty skin half, which is rigid enough to serve from.
Questions people have at the board
Can you eat the skin?
No. It is technically non-toxic, but it is tough, bitter and unpleasant, and it is one of the parts most likely to carry pesticide residue. Discard it — or use a clean half as a serving bowl.
Do you eat the seeds?
Yes, and there is no way to avoid them. The tiny black seeds are distributed throughout the flesh like a kiwi's, not clustered in a core. They are edible, pleasantly crunchy, faintly nutty, and they carry much of the fruit's fibre and its small amount of healthy fat.
Why is my "red" dragon fruit white inside?
Because skin colour and flesh colour are separate things. A pink or red skin very often covers white flesh — that is Hylocereus undatus, the most widely sold variety. Red or magenta flesh is a different species, Hylocereus costaricensis, and is usually sold and priced as a specialty item. You cannot tell from the outside, which is why this surprises so many people.
Storing what you have cut
- Whole and uncut: keeps on the counter for a few days while it softens. Once ripe, move it to the fridge, where it holds for a week to ten days.
- Cut: put it in an airtight container in the fridge and eat within two or three days. The exposed flesh dries out and picks up other flavours quickly.
- Frozen: freeze cubes in a single layer on a tray, then bag them. They keep for around three months and are ideal for drinks and smoothies. Do not expect to thaw them and eat them fresh — the cell walls rupture and the texture turns mushy.
One practical warning: red-fleshed dragon fruit stains. It will mark a wooden board, a light worktop and your clothes, and the pigment is stubborn. Use a plastic or glass board and rinse it immediately. The same pigment can also tint your urine or stool pink for a day after eating a lot of it — this is harmless and well documented, and is the same effect beetroot has.