For a long time, I thought I didn’t like pitaya. I thought it was the hot-pink fruit with white polka-dotted flesh. They’re gorgeous, but they don’t taste like anything.
Then I started seeing these things popping up at the markets. The vendors said they were pitaya, too, and that they were a cactus fruit from the órgano (organ-pipe) cactus in Jalisco.
I finally tasted one at Mercado San Juan last week. The vendor cleared off the spines with a soft brush and cut the fruit open, revealing a deep ruby red flesh exactly the same color as the nail polish I wear on my toes in winter. (Remind me later to tell you about my Mexican-fruit nail polish-naming idea. Mashed capulín is my second fave color after this.)
With its delicate black sesame-type seeds, the pitaya was even prettier than a red prickly pear fruit. I bought a kilo and decided to make an agua fresca.
A few days later, the pitayas were going bad and starting to give me the evil eye, so I finally blended the fruit with water and sugar, and strained it. Served a pretty pinkish-red glass to my friend Rebecca and she loved it — “a cross between cucumber and watermelon,” she said. (I’m thinking now that some jalapeño-infused simple syrup and tequila might make a kick-ass cocktail.)
Pitayas taste sweeter than a regular prickly-pear tuna fruit, and the flesh is a little more crumbly and moist. If you have other ideas recipe ideas, I’d love to hear them. In the meantime here’s a neat article on other types of edible cactus fruits.
Pitaya Agua Fresca
Makes 10 cups
1 lb. pitayas, spines removed
8 cups water
1/4 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, or sweetening agent of your choice
Juice of 1/2 lime (optional)
Cut the pitayas in half, and then in quarters. The fruit should easily peel back from the skin, if they’re ripe enough. Toss the flesh into the blender jar and discard the peels. Add about four cups water and half the sugar, blend until smooth. Strain into a pitcher and repeat. Taste for lime juice at the end. Refrigerate and serve cold, or over ice.
I am not an expert on the subject but the fruit that I came to know as pitaya while I lived in Guatemala looks very different from those you show. Those pitaya kinda look like an artichoke with smooth, upturned petals. Yours look like Mexican “tunas.” The Guatemalan pitayas grow on a shrub-like tree. In NYC’s Chinatown they call them dragon fruit. Maybe it’s all in the name. I always loved them when they are ripe and juicy.
I think it is all in the name. The red pitaya comes from a cactus, but in Mexico City it’s not a tuna. (As a reference, another type of cactus fruit which looks *exactly* like a tuna is called xoconostle. So you never know.) The hot-pink dragon fruit with white flesh is called “pitahaya” here — note the extra h. I think that’s what confused me for so long. And yes, they’re super juicy. Definitely not a fruit you want to eat when you’re wearing white.
Pitaya…pitahaya…tuna…and xoconostle are all relatives and fruit that grow on various cactus plants. I traveled throughout Mexico in search of the best tasting ones. There are tons not just one…here in the states they call one dragon fruit and believe there is only one! Silly kids…that’s like saying there’s only one apple…and it has to be red! A very healthy fruit to eat. When in season I have some on my local harvest store under rancho charanda.
Actually both the one Lesley and Nina talk about are pithayas the one Nina talks about is the one from southeast México (near Guatemala) http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitahaya but from the description Lesley gives both taste kind of the same and the preparation of pithaya water is the same (water, sugar and some lime or lemon). Saludos
The only other time I’ve even heard this word is in downtown Royal Oak, MI at my favorite boutique Pitaya! apparently they make beautiful fruit and clothes lol
I told you they were great! And you have to taste the ones that are rosa mexicno inside as well as the yellow ones.
What a deep ruby color and I can just imagine its taste from your desctiption…I don’t think I can find in New York….
Creo conveniente, después de ver los artículos, que aquí en México, una cosa es pitaya o pitalla y otra pitahaya, ya que la primera, crece en un cactus que aquí se conoce como órgano y se da en climas secos y la segunda se da en otra variedad que es como aplanada(por lo que se ve en las fotos)
Perdón, no termine, la primera su carne es rojo encendido,dulce, dependiendo de su madurez, los frutos son redondos, con espinas, cascara mas o menos del mismo color, y la segunda frutos alargados, grandes , del tamaño de mangos,la cascara es roja con gajos verde y rosa y la carne es blanca no muy dulce, ñpero a mi en lo,particular me agrada
I loved the pictures! Pitayas actlualy come in many other bright and pretty colors. Here in Guadalajara (Mexico) when it’s pitaya season we have what you call a Pitaya Festival and well, it’s basically that! Pitaya based candy, water, natural pitayas all you can eat! Music, toys and lots of fun! Since it’s pitaya season it’s really cheap and we usually go there and stuff our faces Here people usually sell with without the thorns many of the guys that sell it are complete pros at peeling them it’s also amazing to watch. Anyway I hope you enjoyed your pitaya It may be an aquired taste but once you get the vibe of it’s tasty! n.n
Does anyone know if pitaya (sweet organ pipe fruit, not dragon fruit) purchased across the border in Nogales, Mexico can be brought into Arizona? Thanks.
Hi Wanda: As far as I know, bringing any fresh fruit across the border, from Mexico to the United States, is prohibited. Check out the Customs & Border Patrol’s list of prohibited items here: http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/id_visa/kbyg/prohibited_restricted.xml#FruitsandVegetables. Hope that helps!
I brought them across through the Tecate border crossing. I forget what else I brought across at the time. The border patrol agent was nice enough to give me a pamphlet which listed cactus fruit indigenous to the Sonoran desert as allowable. When I explained it was somewhat like the prickly pear cactus fruit he said sure. Although I still don`t understand why he tried keeping all of the different fruit. I had to ask for it back and he was somewhat taken aback. It was a while back though, so maybe the laws have changed.
This reminds me of like water for chocolate…when Tita made the Codorniz en petalos de Rosa, which I attempted for mine and my girlfriends anniversary failed terribly at, and I thought it was tuna’s that she used know I know its the other fruit that we all have a different name for.
Try making it into jam. One of the best memories from my childhood is heading out into the desert to harvest them. And empanadas.
If only we could find some Pitayas here in the US!
I’ve never tasted them and my Mom hasn’t had a pitaya in over 30 years!
We don’t get a chance to visit Mexico very often and when we do, it’s not Pitaya season.
If anyone ever finds where to find some here in California – specially northern California, let me know!
I’m growing pitaya & pitahaya here in Riverside county and will
have fruits by august…
Where did you buy the pitaya catus ? …I’ve been looking on line thank you for your time