Saturday, September 08, 2007
Thanh Long (Dragon Fruit)
I know in my occasional posts about fun food, it's been mainly packaged products but I can't think of any food that's more fun than thanh long (Vietnamese dragon fruit). The appearance of the bright fuchsia cactus fruit with its bright green scales, trailing from vines is just so arresting that many people expect an equally bold flavor. Actually, its black-speckled inside is very subtle, rather reminiscent of kiwi and prickly pear cactus fruit.
I grew dragon fruit in my garden last year. These pictures are from my youngest uncle's garden. Enjoy! :)
13 comments:
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Amazing! I never knew they'd actually grow here in So Cal. I have a very vague memory of eating dragon fruit in VN and I saw some very wilted sad looking one at the grocery store the other day, but haven't eaten any recently.
ReplyDeleteI saw one last night at my local's Ralph's grocery store (Santa Monica) and they looked very fresh. Selling for $9.99 a pound. each weighed almost 1/2 a pound. Didn't get one. Curious as to the black seeds. Are they like Kiwi seeds or like Prickly pear cactus fruit seeds?
ReplyDeleteWow that's cool! The leaves from the dragonfruit plant remind me of the leaves of the Bong Quynh flower, not sure what this plant is in english.
ReplyDeletei've always adored this fruit but never really seen how it grows. Now i do...thanks for sharing,
ReplyDeleteoh man. I would love to have that tree in my backyard.
ReplyDeleteNikki,
ReplyDeleteNext time you're down in OC, check out the house on Magnolia just south of the 22. They've got a whole "arboretum" for lack of a better word. It's gorgeous!
Marcella,
$9.99 a pound?! That's crazy! I know you can find it at some Asian grocery stores. Probably for much cheaper. The seeds are like kiwi seeds so very easy to eat.
PeachyMango,
Is it also a type of cactus flower? The dragonfruit flowers are large white flowers that only bloom at night. They're really pretty.
Kate,
You're welcome. :)
Daphne,
The one in my backyard is just starting to flower. I'm so excited!
WoW my dad would kill for those dragon fruit.....
ReplyDeletei love dragon fruit!
ReplyDeleteoh that is interesting coz the bong quynh that we have also only blooms at night and it has large white flowers! so i guess they both are from the cactus family?
ReplyDeleteBill,
ReplyDeleteAwesome aren't they?
Hippity,
It's yum!
Peachy Mango,
I'll try to dig up an old photo I took when I saw the first bloom so you can see.
How would one obtain a dragonfruit plant?? I want to give one to my mother.
ReplyDeleteHow do you grow these??!!!
ReplyDeleteVal,
ReplyDeleteI've seen them for sale at farmers' markets with a lot of Asian farmers or even Asian grocery stores.
Adelina,
Like any other cactus plant.