Strange Fruit

It's the perfect weather to enjoy a piece (or two) of deliciously refreshing fruit.  Why waste time and bore your palate by sticking with the run-of-the-mill?  I enjoyed this quirky little number, earlier - not as flavorsome as I'd hoped but light, super-refreshing and prettily different.

The dragon fruit (in this case) hails all the way from Vietnam (yes, I know, far from locally sourced but an occasional treat); it belongs to the cactus family.  The seeds are totally edible, it's thirst-quenching, has good fibre levels and isn't too high in natural sugars.

It reminds me of the delicious prickly pear I relished in Sicily, late last year.  It belongs to the same family, has many similar properties but is slightly less tasty than its Italian counterparts (pictured centre-back in the frutta dell'etna box).