Gloriously sweet, a little tart, and so healthy. Make the switch from ice cream to the decadent treat of pitaya, or dragonfruit, in these hot months of the year. Pick some up Thursday afternoon August 4th 5:30pm – 6pm or Saturday August 6th 11:30 AM – 12 noon at ARTfarm. This is a short mini pop-up, so no reservations required although you can reserve eggs!
Dragonfruit is a cactus vine plant that grows quasi-parasitically on trees for structure. (See the comment section below for a better explanation from local expert cultivator Pat Hanada!) It’s the commercial cousin of the night blooming cerrus and requires pollination at night. It’s a plant that’s well-suited to the arid south shore of St. Croix, and they grow here at ARTfarm with a sweet bright flavor that is unlike the bland imported dragonfruits we’ve gotten at grocery stores.
Dragonfruit is super easy to prepare and eat, you just need to slice it down the middle with a good tomato knife and then eat the center right out of the rind with a spoon. You can also cut it into sections and eat them right off the peel like an orange slice. The tiny seeds crunch between your teeth like poppyseeds. Folks love them at room temperature for maximum sweetness, but they can also be chilled in your refrigerator for a cooling treat.
Of course you can put dragonfruit in smoothies, you can use it to color foods naturally, and you can add it to fruit salads and other fruity dishes for a mind blowing pop of color.
Come to ARTfarm to buy this amazing fruit either
Thursday 8/4/22 at 5:30 – 6pm.
Or Saturday 8/6/22 from 11:30am – 12noon.
We will have loads of pink and dark red fleshed dragonfruit $8/pound
Bunched sweet onions with green tops $5
Garlic chives $2
Mango turmeric $3
Turmeric $3
Lemongrass $2
Zinnias $5/bunch
A few last pineapples, and a few Nam doc mai mangoes will also be available.
Pastured local chicken eggs from ARTfarm’s littlest farmer, Mongoose & Zinnia, and/or farmer Nikki Schuster, $8/dozen. If you would like to reserve eggs, send a text to (340) 277 – 43 43.
Hop down to the South Shore and see Farmer Luca!
ARTfarm on St. Croix, USVI 
What a great newsletter this week! Thank you and I’ll see you tomorrow. Patrice
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Thank you Patrice! Looking forward to it
“Hylocereus undatus”, a “semiepiphytic” cactus, native to Central America and widespread everywhere in the intertropical zone of the world. This plant isn’t an epiphytic plant in the strict sense of the word. It climbs on tree trunks, its roots are terrestrial and it draws its food from the soil. Thus, Hylocereus undatus is more precisely a climbing cactus.
Not “parasitic”
Thank you for that perfect clarification Pat! Even as we wrote it, we were debating whether this family of climbing vine cactus was truly parasitic. And then your perfect explanation manifested! We appreciate your addition to this discussion of such a fascinating and useful plant.
Sorry I couldn’t make it out today.
Darin
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We are open again tomorrow (Saturday 8/6/2022) from 1130 to 12-ish. You get another chance to pick up some dragonfruit, onions, sweet potato greens, etc!!